Father and mother Kathy Witterick and David Stocker of Toronto, Canada, became the proud mother and father of their third child, Storm, on Jan first of 2011. What makes their story unique is the belief that they have made the decision to keep their baby’s sex a secret until such time as Storm he or she decides to reveal it.
Stand for freedom, parents say
“We’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now – a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place? …),” wrote Witterick, 38.
Only a few know newborn’s sex
Not even the grandparents know. It is a true secret. Only a few individuals know Storm’s sex. Those who know are two midwives who helped deliver the baby and one close family friend. Storm’s two older brothers, Jazz, 5, and Kio, 2, also know the sex. Nobody has said what it is yet though.
Everyone asks ‘Is it a girl or a boy’
”When the baby comes out, even the individuals who love you probably the most and know you so intimately, the first question they ask is, ‘Is it a girl or a boy?’” Witterick said. Her husband Stocker, 39, an educator at an alternative school, added: “If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs.”
The choice for a kid to make
”What we noticed is that parents make so many choices for their children. It’s obnoxious,” Stocker said.
When really young, children are able to make decisions. Both Stocker and Witterick believe this. Already, Jazz and Kio decide when they get haircuts. They pick out their own clothes too.
Calling their children ‘unschooled’
The kids are “unschooled” by their father and mother. The father and mother use their children’s natural curiosity to home school. It is “not something that happens by rote from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays in a building with a group of same-age people, planned, implemented and assessed by someone else.” This is what Witterick claims.
How these mother and father decided
Witterick said that Jazz was having “intense” gender issues which brought on them to keep this child’s sex a secret. Louis Gould’s “X: A Fabulous Child’s Store” from 1978 was read by Stocker. A child was raised gender neutral and had a fantastic life in the book.
“It became so compelling it was almost like, how could we not?” Witterick said.
Some people don’t approve
Witterick said that when asked about resistance from other people on the decision, they say “We always turn the question back. Yeah, when will this end? When will we live in a world where people can make choices to be whoever they are?”
Information from
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/is-raising-a-gender-neutral-child-a-fantasy/2011/05/25/AGr1mPBH_blog.html
Yahoo News
news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110524/ts_yblog_thelookout/parents-keep-childs-gender-under-wraps
Daily Mail
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1389593/Kathy-Witterick-David-Stocker-raising-genderless-baby.html
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