Gender neutral parenting: what it's really like

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Russell Brand and his girlfriend Laura Gallacher just welcomed their first baby, daughter Mabel.

But before she was born, Brand said in an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show that he "may not even ever impose a gender on it, let the child grow up and be the whatever the hell it is, never tell it there is such a concept".

While we don't know if that's really his plan or not, it's a concept that resonated with a mum of three from South Australia, Clare Crew.

Clare with her two daughters and son.
Clare with her two daughters and son. 

As an early childhood educator, she provided the same care and resources for all the children she looked after, regardless of their gender.

While she noticed some boys gravitated towards block play, and some girls honed in on the home corner, she saw a "huge degree" of children going to the other areas.

"So it just made sense to me that when I was raising my own children that I was going to give them that equal choice."

Clare explains that raising her children gender neutral isn't about pushing them to wear (or do) something based on their gender. Nor is it about trying to make them be more like the opposite gender.

Instead, she says, it's simply "resisting the push" of gender stereotypes altogether.

In practical terms, that means avoiding the whole "pink for girls, blue for boys" mentality.

As her children grew, she then allowed them to choose their own clothing.

Clare also gave them gender neutral toys. So when her oldest daughter was little, she bought her a train set – which she became "obsessed" with.

While that may not seem unusual, Clare notes, "A lot of families perhaps wouldn't have even made that available because they consider that a 'boys toy'."

Sharon Draper, a psychologist and author of Stuck In the Mud, a children's self-help book for managing anxiety, says that raising a child 'gender neutral' doesn't mean you're raising them to be "androgynous".

Rather, it means not forcing any preconceived gendered ideas onto them.

Even so, she says the concept remains "controversial".

"Some experts see more benefits than not, while others feel children need to identify strongly with one gender – otherwise, they believe, they will feel very confused, and this will impact them negatively."

The only issue Draper is concerned about is that other children may "ostracise" a child for looking different.

"People are afraid of the unknown and unfamiliar and this could taint the child's experience as gender neutral," she explains.

While Clare says her children have never been ostracised, she has been frustrated by other people's comments.

She remembers a time when her daughter and son both wore floral headbands, yet people only commented on her son. While those comments were mainly supportive, it irked Clare that people felt the need to point it out at all.

From a psychological point of view, Draper says that raising a child gender neutral in a safe and non-judgemental environment can help them develop their own sense of self, and reduce their anxiety over needing to conform to the expectations of others.

Clare's three children are now aged nine, seven and five.

Interestingly, she says, their clothing choices are now "very much in line" with the mainstream gendered stereotypes.

Still, Clare is optimistic that her decision to raise her children in this way may have long-reaching ramifications.

She hopes they will grow into open-minded adults who know they are loved and accepted unconditionally, and who don't feel they have to adhere to 'set roles' based on their gender.

"[I want them to feel] that anything they really want or desire is there for the taking, and that it's not limited [by their gender]."

If you want to take a leaf out of Clare's book in gender neutral parenting, her advice is simple: "Follow the children's lead, and you can't go wrong."

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