The motif of a "sports" parent has long been a tradition in American culture; both in reality and in media. Everyone has seen some form of a "sports" parent, like Tim McGraw duct-taping a football to his sons' hand in "Friday Night Lights", or like the documentary "Trophy Kids" on Netflix. There are major characteristics that separate a "sports" parent from a normal parent that has a child involved in sports.

A "sports" parent drives their child to do the best in whatever given sport they are in. This type of parent drives their child mainly because they live vicariously through their children. Sadly, a lot of "sports" parents end up mentally damaging their child by forcing them beyond the lengths their little bodies can go. Even sadder, the majority of children being raised by "sports" parents only wanted to dabble in sports, receive the team-building values sports teach us, or even sometimes didn't want to be in a sport to begin with.

This article isn't about "sports" parents. This article is about a strange offshoot of the "sports" parent: the "progressive" parent.

A "progressive" parent is someone who pushes their political and socio-political views upon their child to the point of detriment.

The "progressive" parent retains all the traits of a "sports" parent, except there are no sports involved. For example, I recently watched an interview with a woman who claims her 2 year old child is transgender and that anyone who opposes that view is ignorant. She dresses her child in skirts (the child is male) and supplies him only with Barbie dolls for toys. There is also the case of Lactatia, the 8 year old drag-queen, that is "encouraged by his supportive parents" (so says The Advocate).

If you look into the interviews of Lactatia and the 2 year old unnamed child's mother, you will see glaring similarities between them and "sports" parents.

Before you send me your hate-mail, let me clarify something. I think grown adults that believe they are transgender should be left alone. While I may think it is biologically illogical, I don't begrudge adults who believe they are the opposite gender they were born with. What I do take issue with is parents who see their children experimenting with activities that aren't "normal" for their initial gender, and then exploiting their child so they can say they were on the right side of history.

The idea of a "progressive" parent isn't exclusive to trans issues. I was raised in a conservative family, but my parents never pushed an ideology upon me. Some conservative parents will push extreme ideology upon their children. The only example needed for this would be the Westboro Baptist Church.

At the end of the day, these examples all show the same characteristics. "Progressive" parents raise their children to be conduits for their own selves (the same as "sports" parents). Lactatia may really love the trans and drag life, but the statistics show that over half of the children who say they are transgender before they are 18 actually realize that they aren't transgender.

That is a horrifying realization one you grasp that there are "progressive" parents that are pushing their children further towards transitioning. This also related to the Westboro Baptist Church. Megan Phelps was a child of the WBC, and she is now very outspoken about how her parents brainwashed her inside the church.

The point I'm making is: let children be their own people. A child isn't sexually present at eight or two, so saying that they have decided their gender or sexuality at that age is abusive. The same goes for people pushing their political ideology on their children. Your child isn't a Republican or Democrat; they are an innocent child. Parents need to instill values they believe in, in their children, but what they shouldn't do is hell-hack their children into being an extreme section of their own beliefs.