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Midwest Molly's avatar

This makes me sad, and worried, for a lot of reasons.

One of them ( although not anywhere near as serious as the indoctrination) is that the boys and girls at camp are losing out on peer role models.

The boys should have an older boy/young man as a counselor, modeling the behaviors and values that inspire them to be good men. What on earth is a confused girl, playacting at being a boy, going to role model for them?

My son, who is now 21, and my husband, a football coach, both showed me how important older men are in mentoring adolescent and teen boys.

I really had no idea how thirsty boys are for male leadership, and how coaches really take seriously their jobs as role models. I didn't get it until my son began playing sports in middle school, and my husband volunteered as a coach.

These coaches teach the boys how to treat adults, girls, women and each other with respect. How to temper their strength with gentleness, how to use their power to help those who are less powerful. They show them how to channel their aggression- and teenaged boys have a lot of it- into fair competition.

The burst of growth that leads to prodigious strength, and the testosterone surge that leads to aggression and anger is power that needs to be channeled.

There was an elephant reserve in Africa that housed many juvenile male elephants and they were rampaging out of control. To counter this, the caretakers introduced full grown male bull elephants, and they quickly brought the juveniles into line.

Boys need men to show them how to become the best version of themselves. They don't need girls who want to LARP at being a man.

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Gigi's avatar

My daughter just got back from a week Girl Scout camp in WA state. All of the 20 counselors told the girls their preferred pronouns and that it was expected they remember them and use them properly. My daughter is 8. She came home telling me she feels like a “they” sometimes because she likes boy stuff occasionally. Next year she is going to a Christian camp in Texas.

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