Some of the resources I have found helpful, many that link to studies and research, are: https://gender-a-wider-lens.captivate.fm/ Sasha Ayad and Stella O'malley, therapists to mostly gender questioning teens https://genspect.org/ A worldwide support group for parents, which has a new statsforgender.org page linking to studies https://www.transgendertrend.com/ https://www.genderhq.org/ "A RESOURCE & COMMUNITY FOR PEOPLE CONCERNED ABOUT SAME-SEX ATTRACTED YOUNG PEOPLE HARMED BY MEDICAL TRANSITION FOR GENDER DYSPHORIA" Transparency Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/transparency/id1583333120 put out by two transmen Aaron Kimberly and Aaron Terrill, who also helped found the Gender Dysphoria Alliance in Canada as a response to the increased medicalization of teens and young adults.

Just (((ksera))) and (((Terabith))).

Totally agree -- the cohort is drastically changed (previously it was mostly young kids or adult males, now it's mostly teen girls??) but the model they are following in medicine is based on assumptions made from previous cohorts. Social contagion is so prevalent. This is just a very informal parent study from their own support group, but it shows that 96 percent of the trans identifying teens spent time on pro trans websites. When I go searching online I get pages and pages of information that is supremely unhelpful. My son says he felt "really bad about himself" and went online and discovered the reason is because he is trans. Using reddit and online quizzes. And watching hours and hours of transition timeline videos. https://pitt.substack.com/p/follow-the-science-surveys-show-recent

Don't quote, will delete: Background - we have spectrumy traits in our family (my dad is clearly on the spectrum, my son was dx'ed last year, and I don't believe I would be diagnosed but maybe am adjacent) My son believed (and possibly still believes) he is trans -- puberty was crazy tough on him but he seems to be in a better place now. He's more comfortable with his body now that he's been lugging it around awhile and the dysphoria seems to have subsided. When I was a teen I struggled with anxiety and depression (undiagnosed of course because anxiety wasn't a thing back then -- even though BOTH my parents now have been dxed with GAD). I hated my body so much. I dreamed of androgynous looking bodies, both as an ideal in a relationship but also to be myself -- I found them non threatening and safe. I didn't even know what trans was but I knew what eating disorders were. A simple solution to solve a body problem that included clearly defined steps, in the hopes that that simple solution would solve my problems. I set weight goals, I set calorie limits, I set exercise schedules -- i can see the parallels between that and trans identity in teens.

I think you will find that the studies most cited as proof of "true" transgenderism are poor quality and inconclusive. I personally believe that gender ideology is a belief system with no science to back it up. However, I also believe very strongly that there are people whose dysphoria is so severe -- (dysphoria which can stem from different sources for different people) and the best solution is transition. It is semantics, but I think language is very important and the idea that someone can be born in the wrong body is extremely disingenuous.

Agree with the previous poster about depression and mental illness will cause someone to rewrite history in their heads. Agree as well about a lot of kids being so afraid of growing up that this feels like the solution. There is such a weird mix of sheltering kids (my kids have been sheltered and they absolutely would have preferred to stay prepubscent, when life was easy and fun and with none of the crazy scary emotions that puberty brought -- their brains are on fire!) and then the internet and social media is dropping in porn in ever increasing weird and violent ways. They are getting anime porn from friends, they are getting it through discord, gaming groups... and they don't know how to process it. It scares them. Another thing I see in these kids, especially those that tend toward autism (and more recent studies are showing that autistic teens and young adults are making up a large proportion of those identifying as trans) is that they see this as a simple solution with steps to solve a multifaceted problem. There is this undefinable distress -- puberty, social akwardness, sensory issues, depression, isolation, and the idea of there being ONE reason that could fix these issues is very alluring.

Congrats to your daughter! My good news is that my recent college grad is living at home, working at a coffee shop, and finally finding balance and mental health. She had nasal surgery for something that had been causing her terrible sleep for months, and then it took longer to recover than any of us expected. Remote schooling was tough, getting adhd meds stabilized was tough, and anxiety was pretty out of control. Now she loves her job, goes for long hikes, is working on healthy eating, and is just in such a better place. She's applying to law schools for the fall, but for now she's just a joy and happier than I've seen her since she was a kid.

Wow. That's pretty rude. And pretty much spot on for why some Democrats are starting to feel like the party has moved on to a weird place and are feeling it is less and less representative to those who might have contrasting opinions about certain issues. Isn't the whole problem with the two party system as it is is that it polarizes us into two opposite parties when most of us have views that shift or are somewhat in the middle? I am a 45 year old lifelong Democrat, non religious, never voted Republican in my life. And I believe the most frustrating "woke" issues are definitely magnified in the media -- how else are they going to sell papers I guess. But insulting people for their beliefs isn't really helpful and that is honestly what a lot of liberal news is filled with.

Not the US, but I only spent 10 seconds to search and will come back to look for stuff in the US: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/pride-breaks-with-halifax-libraries-after-controversial-book-kept-on-shelves-1.6045823

We studied Toni Morrison in AP English when I was a senior, way back in 1994 (in Florida). I thought everyone read a Morrison novel for AP Lit. How is this suddenly so traumatizing?

The whole story has a lot of nuance that is left out of both left leaning and right leaning news. The implication that I have gleaned is that the rape happened but the school did not want the news of it to get out because they wanted to get the bathroom bill passed. Now I'm hoping it was more that it was more student confidentiality that was involved in the lack of news when the rape happened, however the fact remains that it happened and it plays in very nicely to the conservative view points of ideology overrunning the schools. I am sure it played a part in the election.

This is our first real year in high school (zoom year last year doesn't count IMO). My twins are in 10th grade. My daughter is in two AP's, one honors and one elective. (block semester schedule) She dances around 12 hours a week, but it's heavier now with winter performance rehearsals. She really races during school time to finish homework, and typically doesn't have more than 30 min to an hour at night. She often has some on the weekend, but never more than a few hours. She is exhausted, but she doesn't thrive on being busy. Second semester will be lighter and she will only have three classes. Hoping that will help. My son has only three classes rn and dropped his AOPS class, so his schedule is light. One AP, one honors, and his extracurriculars are only around 5 hours a week. He could do more, but he takes longer to find his way and really struggled to actually find an extracurricular to do. He was stressed with his AOPS class, however, as it was really outside his comfort zone and was taking up so much bandwidth.

My someone who shall not be named just bought the same toy and LOVES it. But he only uses it to blow out the garage, the driveway, and to tease the dogs. Hopefully he won't get any ideas about using in the house!

Thanks Rosie! It looks like Hank Green did a Philosophy Crash Course, so that might be a good place to start. I'm trying to balance computer time (we've had far too much screen time here and it's showing some negative effects) but on the other hand if these videos replaced some of the ones he watches of gaming speed run videos, that would be great too.

I was wondering if there is any book out there about philosophy that would be interesting for my ds 15. He's pretty particular about what he reads -- for instance his favorite books are What If, Math With Bad Drawings, How To, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension.... books with short vignettes in easily digestible chapters. He's newly interested in philosophy and I just don't really know where to start.

I sometimes make an effort to match someone else's tone while texting and I find it exhausting. How can anyone feel such levels of excitement? But I try since I come off as pretty brusque and irritated sounding otherwise. Then there's the whole tapback on iphones that allow you to "react" to someone's text. I feel like if someone "hearts" your texts multiple times while you don't "heart" their's, then there is an imbalance. I loved texting initially -- especially as it was easier to get in touch with people that I was friends with at different duty stations while my husband was active duty. Now I feel like it's just intrusive. I feel like there's this constant pressure to respond to texts, and guilt if you haven't. And I don't text regularly with many people at all! I have dreams of moving somewhere that magically has all the conveniences of the city that I am used to having, combined with the utter isolation of a deserted island or a lighthouse.

I agree. Yesterday at the hair salon the (much younger) clerk complimented on how good I was at math when I quickly figured out 20 percent for the tip. I just took the first two numbers and doubled it. It made me wonder if everyone else was having to get out the calculator to figure out what 20 percent was?

My 15 year old son is eating alone. In fact he doesn't have to because his twin sister is there too, but she eats super fast and ditches him to go to her next class to read. He is in the process of joining clubs (deadline is this Friday) so hopefully some of the lunchtime clubs will bring him people to hang out with. He does not mind eating alone that much -- he's very wary of becoming friends with people he will find annoying. He would think that much worse than eating alone. I'm just planning to make sure he has a good book with him from now on, so he's not just randomly playing games on his phone.

She uses Tiimo now. She used Brilli before.

My daughter is on Strattera and Vyvanse. She has terrible working memory, and Strattera helps that. So she is "ok" on Strattera, but great on both.

Mine uses an app to keep her on track with a daily routine. She sets up her room the night before with clothes, pills, water, and a protein bar. Then when her alarm goes off she checks the schedule while it dings each item so she can stay on track. This system has only really gotten pretty solid this past year, even though she's been on meds for three. Mine gets anxiety when her dosage is too high - which it was when Ritalin suppressed her appetite, which made her foggy headed all the time (from lack of food) which meant she asked for a higher dose, which suppressed her appetite more... She's on Vyvanse now and it works much better for her.

There's Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, which is not an official diagnosis but sounds to me like ADHD minus the H. Dr. Russell Barkley has advocated for this to become an official DX. My daughter looked very much like this on really bad days, but she has plenty of the H traits so it's pretty obvious she has combined type. Talks really fast, interrupts people, thoughts flying non stop. For her, diagnosis didn't just help with school. Adhd affects one's day to day life very drastically. It's not just avoiding hard work (though that was par for the course -- avoiding anything until the last minute and then fear of failure would kick in to motivate her). But it affects the time it takes her to shower, whether she remembers to go to bed, remembering to eat, realizing that she's actually sick and not just "out of it" again.... and all of those get so much easier with meds. It is so frustrating to hear about kids that take meds to do better on tests. It just makes access to these drugs so much harder for people who really need it just for day to day life.

My ds definitely rates Int Number Theory the hardest. For comparison the Aops calc class was relatively easy.

I think I will look into that for the next course then. Thank you!