New York Times columnist Pamela Paul last week published an op-ed titled, “As Kids, They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do.”
The story is exactly what it sounds like. Cue the sound of a million “I told you so’s” from moderates and conservatives, as if not taking adolescents at their word is esoteric knowledge that required a sea of medical regret to validate.
Teens don’t know any better, not in this world where a teen is effectively a kid. It’s a funny problem we created. We extended childhood indefinitely — because adolescence at least implies some measure of responsibility that is no longer there — and at the same time began insisting not only that children know better than their parents but that they are wiser than adults, period.
Letting Children Decide to Transition is Parenting Folly
