Now in Israel: LGBT groups pressure preschools to drop all “Mom and Dad” references and provide gay coloring books
A new directive from Israel’s Education Ministry calls on preschool teachers to stop referring to “Mom and Dad” in preschool activities.
The staff at the pro-LGBT Hoshen Organization, which offers training to preschool staff on the subjects of gender and sexual identity, has suggested Israeli preschool teachers speak about “parents” instead of “Mom and Dad.”
“It’s worth remembering that there are many preschool children who come from non-traditional families. They may have two fathers, two mothers, two sets of parents, or LGBT parents who live separately and each has his or her own relationship,” Hoshen explained. “Don’t assume that every marital relationship is heterosexual. Instead, ask the parents how you should refer to them (Mom and Mom, Mom and Mama, Dad and Papa, etc.).
“For the weekly Shabbat celebration, don’t have choose a girl to light the candles and a boy to do Kiddush (make a blessing over the grape juice). Talk about ‘accepting Shabbat’ instead of role playing ‘Shabbat Mom’ and ‘Shabbat Dad.'”
The vast majority of preschool children love being “Shabbat Mom” who lights the candles or “Shabbat Dad” who recites the kiddush prayer a few times a year, and wait impatiently for their turn to come. This weekly role-play is not exclusive to religious preschools.
Hoshen also suggests positively reinforcing children who appear to reject their biological gender.
Though many, if not all, preschool children go through an experimental phase in which they may wear clothing associated with the opposite sex without it having any effect on their sexuality, and only 0.3 percent of the population is trans, Hoshen seems to interpret the dress experimentation as a gender identity crisis.
“Give positive attention to children who act differently than expected for their gender, and allow them to do what they want,” Hoshen writes. “For example, a boy who uses the feminine forms of verbs and adjectives (this is normal for preschoolers, since most of the caregivers are female and use the female forms – ed.), wears ‘girl’ clothes, plays only with girls, and so on, needs positive and encouraging attention from everyone in his life, not just the family. He needs to be allowed to feel comfortable with himself and his family.”
Even though pro-LGBT associations claim they are against sex change operations, they seem to be pro-sex change when it comes to preschoolers.
In their suggestions for preschool teachers, Hoshen calls on staff to use the word “children” instead of “boys and girls,” and to divide children into groups based on the first letter of their names, instead of by gender.
Hoshen also encourages preschools to read children books and provide coloring pages which show LGBT parents.
“These suggestions were recommended by the Education Ministry’s Psychological Advisory Committee and by the Education Ministry’s Elementary and Pre-Elementary Divisions,” Hoshen states. “Only a short time ago, we held a group session – the first in a series – for hundreds of preschool teachers and assistants in Herzliya.”
