Parenting and Consent

I hope it’s obvious to anyone who’s read this blog that consent is a big deal to me. A really big deal. It only makes sense that this translates into what kind of parent I want to be.

At least at the start, parenting consensually is a bit of a tightrope. You start out holding a slippery, wriggling, unbearably fragile human being who is ultimately a near-stranger to you, and you’re responsible for their well-being. Sure, many kids start showing personality in the womb, but the womb is pretty different. Your child’s needs are generally met immediately. Constant supply of nutrients, constant comfort, constant human contact, huge liquid bubble to protect from harm, etc. Then they’re thrown into a world where they’re reliant on near-strangers to meet those needs.

Bound

I found out about The Binding Health Project. For some reason, it won’t let me take the survey, but I wanted to talk about my experiences binding anyways. I already posted this on my tumblr, but I’m posting it again here.

It says it’s not accepting additional responses at this time.

I was never evaluated for specific problems, well nothing came back showing problems, so I don’t know for certain. It’s possible that in the future I’ll end up having problems brought on by the binding. I bound from late 2007/early 2008 until getting surgery in spring of 2010, many people bind for far longer before they’re able to get surgery.