Winnie the pooh

I have always loved the Winnie The Pooh stories from childhood.

There are many inspiring lines to be found within the stories that have a real benefit to boys and girls.

Christopher Robin is a childhood hero of mine.

You were always warned about the fair weathered friends who wanted to be in with you and those who perhaps less pushy were more minded to stick with through the thick and the thin, sticking up for you even if it may not be popular.

Real friendship is based on mutual respect for one another, knowing when things are best done together but respecting when we need to be alone with our thoughts but prepared to come in and comfort us as needed.

Being yourself as that child and adult little

 

Life when you are Tammy had it's up and downs growing up the most obvious being I'd sooner have an option for uniform that I felt comfortable in either that traditionally associated with boys or girls even if having made that choice, I had to abide by for consistencies sake for the whole term.

I would of freely chosen to wear a skirt and matching white, grey or black long socks and conformed to the same skirt length rules as the girls.

I always loved dolls and even had a few  but most relatives never bought me one, thought it was odd and worst of all I couldn't share freely my interest in dolls with the kids in school.

This sort of collectors doll was what I prized so much with her scaled down domestic furniture all set out beautifully.

It's interesting by making a word a plural and converting dolls to dollies the whole images changes from more historical fashion based interest and collecting to playing with dollies designed to star in adventures in your own imagination.

Playing with dollies was "forbidden fruit" but sissy gurl me loved it, dressing them up from head to toe.

I had toy cars but ones that linked to things like Barbie such as this convertable were more where I was at because they would fit in with that evolving girlie adventure story in my mind I so wanted to share with others such as girls.

Sport after leaving junior school was impacted by gender lines but even before then uniform was more of an issue with me and as I wanted to play Netball and Hockey which were girl only too at the time I would of wanted to wear a netball skort like the boy on the left who looks great in it.

Again outside of the options for sports, I so desperately wanted an option for my P.E and Games kit, renewable on a termly basis that reflected my gender identity.

This battle is so worth fighting for todays gender variant kids and in the context of adult littles also within some of those communities that have the same closed mindsets when people like me wish to play with them.

The ghoulish years

 Last weekend I was away at Halloween party for age regressors.

It's interesting to reflect on how it has been in the last three and a bit decades the way we mark this time of the year has changed because over here in the UK Halloween as such wasn't marked but people did hold All Hallows Day parties with guising and toffee apples.

The more recent custom of Trick and Treat isn't native to the UK but an import from the States a good number hold the children's tv program  Blue Peter responsible for doing a feature on in the early eighties that then spread like topsy.

Into that the participates created outfits to which people rewarded with candy and it wasn't long before as in the States commercial outfits became widely available even if face paint and the like obviously was hand applied.

In this country it cuts into the Guy Fawkes season where we mark the foiled attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament with effigies, bonfires and fireworks in 1605.

For that ear muffs may help as some fireworks are really loud!

One thing that has changed in recent years is I am more focused on my behaviour at least as far as it may impact on others from knowing when not to get into conversations that are not really to do with me, taking turns well and being safe such as with using sharp knives for pumpkin carving because the increased use of physical and non physical chastisement  that can be used discretely such as a smack out of sight help me to keep those traits in check more which makes being out with people more enjoyable. 

For me then, this weekend was  a great one.

Thoughts on leaving Junior school

This is being written while I recover from a damaged ankle which is very painful but this time of year often sees me thinking back in time to past events not least my past boyhood.

I recently saw this picture one presumes taken late summer last year of a "Year Six) or to me J4 leavers service of the sort we had as part of the process of transition that had included visiting for a day a secondary school the majority of the year group would transfer to, writing up about the subjects we'd taken in Junior school and a service.

Actually, to tell you the truth when I saw this picture I did feel a bit sad actually because for me, Jacqueline and a few others it was the point we realized  we would be at the margins of the group because we wouldn't transfer with them and as you countless know, daytime school groups transfer over to things like sports groups, the "Youth Club" and so on resulting us being marginalized.

For me it was near total because I was going to boarding school so daily after school contact in a pre-internet age was non existent so the few I did manage to keep in contact with through things like the Methodist Chapel do matter and some those contacts have been maintained through 'adult' positions in the community like being a Council Chairman or involved in other groups that paradoxically put me in positions of some real stature in this community that the others didn't get around to.

On Monday, I was about when I called over a friend l know who was living at his fathers old house here and to which I'd know backward from the days we'd call on each other to play and we got talking about how each other was and that.

He was one of six I had regular contact with over the years and that was when I realized that as unfortunate as that break was as a J4 leaver, actually I hadn't really lost anything of value because those friendships still remain right now. It is a part of how we relate to each other.