I've heard so many people call babies and other young kids "It". How come they think it's acceptable to see a baby as an it but not a grownup? I have never heard anyone calling an older child or teen or adult "It". What's with that? It's unfair. Why are kids seen as objects? I even used to cringe inside when I heard people calling an animal It.

No.  But then that's probably due to the fact that I do it myself on occasion: especially when the sex of the child isn't readily apparent.  To me, whether it's based on face-blindness or not, pretty much every child under the age of six months looks the same so I do it to avoid upsetting the mother by saying something wrong-gender-related.  

Having said that, I'm not inclined to use it to describe kids older than that.

No not really. I also have a habit of calling them "The baby." Like instead of saying "Where's Ben?" People say "Where's the baby?" But there are people that address them by thier name. I have never seen people call babies an it before. Just "Baby."

I have gotten my friend mad calling her toddler it years ago. It wasn't an insult. I am used to referring to babies like that. Oops.

if a parent doent introduce a baby by name  , I think most people would ask if it is a boy or girl

Somehow I think the parents think people can tell if their child is a boy or a girl.

I can look at a baby and if "it" is wearing blue denim I might say oh he is cute..the parent is like - oh "it's" a girl, or she's a girl. (yes parent's also use the word it- an old saying - the signs still say say "it's a girl!". I don;t mind the term for small babies.  You just can't use thw word it if you know boy or gitl...

(sort of embarrassing - though everyone realizes it is hard to tell when they are little.) If we know the person whose schild it is, we are supposed to care enought to A. remember the name if we sort of know them we are supposed to ask "boy or girl" to show interest.

I would really say - Oh, what is your baby'scname? (to see if I can guess boy or girl based on name)  I don't know why we all seem to feel the need to know if "it" is a boy or a girl-- maybe so we don't think of "it" as an "it".

This post was last modified: 05-26-2010 07:27 PM by windy.

unless the kid doesnt have a diaper on...how do you tell

On the Internet it is common for parents to refer to their children with gender-neutral pronouns, such as:

“Xe said xyr first word this afternoon!”

I believe it is to protect their children’s anonymity.

This post was last modified: 05-26-2010 07:41 PM by Ivar T.

these days ,one cant be too careful

A boy, around seven years old, once looked into the buggy of my baby daugter. She was in a deep sleep, dressed in pink from head to toe. The boy asked: "Is he dead?"   The funniest bit was the totally shocked reaction of the boy's mother.

I've noticed a lot of parents get quite upset if you can't tell their babies gender.  To avoid that, I usually just refer to any undecided baby as "Sweetie".  At that age it's not condescending and usually gets the parent onside until you know for sure what gender their particular ugly little spud is!
Alison

I can tell if a baby is a boy or a girl just by what they have on.

Same here.  I'll stop calling a baby 'It' when its gender becomes apparent, or when someone tells me whether its a boy or a girl.

I would much rather see my son mistaken for a girl than have him called It.


If you don't know the gender of a grownup, do you call the grownup It? No, you don't. So why do this to a child?

It's not easy when the baby is dressed in any color other than blue or pink, not in a dress, or mostly covered with a blanket.