The best way to raise a child is probably to let them gravitate towards the things that interest them. It just so happens that boys tend to like cars and superheroes, and girls tend to like dolls and ponies. Obviously there are loads of children who don’t adhere to this, but generally it seems to be the case.

Well that’s no good to this guy named Jay Deitcher, who prides himself on ‘blurring gender lines’ and had wanted his son to ‘reject masculine stereotypes’. Get a load of this excerpt from an article he wrote for Today:

After turning 2 years old, my son, Avishai, started demanding that he only wear tractor shirts, and my mind spiraled into darkness. I catastrophized worst-case scenarios, imagining a world where he fell for everything stereotypically manly. I envisioned him on a football field, barreling through mega-muscled opponents. Imagined him waxing a sports car on a warm summer day. I have always judged other guys who seemed boxed in by masculinity, but 3 ½  years ago, when I became a stay-at-home dad, my bias skyrocketed. …

To me, femininity was connected to empathy and kindness while masculinity equated to being frigid. Men didn’t hug. Men didn’t say I love you. Men were angry. Aggressive. Inept as parents. I became determined. I was going to create a bond stronger than any parent had ever achieved, but I told myself that to do so I needed to distance myself from anything deemed masculine. …

I began attending mommy-and-me playgroups and bristled when other caregivers made jokes about me providing daddy day care … but I too looked at dads that way. … I grimaced at anyone driving a Ford car, the John Wayne of automobiles. I hated men who wore plaid. Felt ill if someone mentioned a wrench or another tool. When my mom-in-law bought Avishai a coverall with footballs on it, I shoved it into the depths of his closet, never to be found. …

Once my son could walk, I paraded him through the park while he rolled his baby doll down the sidewalk in its stroller. I felt accomplished because he mirrored being a caretaker.

But then came the tractors. It started with YouTube. On days I was especially drained, I’d sit Avishai in front of the TV and click on “Little Baby Bum.” He fell in love with the tractor songs, and I was so worn, I didn’t care. When he asked to watch clips of construction equipment, I mindlessly pressed play. But when he demanded the shirts, I felt like I failed him.

Apologies for the long snippet, but that’s just a fraction of the devastation he overshares in the article. It’s not satire either – this guy is completely for real. The good news is that by the end of the article he’s begrudingly accepted that his son is interested in masculine things (after much mental anguish and soul-searching). It’s just too bad that he has such a negative idea of what masculinity is in the first place, but at least he’s gotten over the ‘worst-case scenario’ outcome of his son becoming a sports star who drives cool cars and bangs hot chicks. The stuff of nightmares apparently, but young Avishai may have hope of attaining that yet. Go Avishai Go!

For the school that wrote to parents of a six-year-old over his ‘transphobic behaviour’, click HERE.