Been teaching my son x86 realmode assembly - by which I mean I give him ideas of what to code, he gets annoyed as I explain some approaches because by the time I've finished he's already got it running.

Genetics, eh?

He's planning to study computer science, art & design and German for his GCSEs, on top of the core subjects (homeschooled, and there's reasons to not study too much at once).

Amy is very much the Arty one between me and her, and speaks German, obviously computer science is me

But since he's picked 2 out of 3 subjects more influenced by her, does this mean she won?

I can claim responsibility for his technical interests and skills.

And his Y chromosome, which he appears to be totally happy with.

Honestly, even though I'm joking around a lot here and also just showing off immense parental pride - he's gone from 4C00 in DOS to exit, written using DOS DEBUG, to writing exe files with proper linking and segments and rendering 2D graphical patterns within a few days, well...

The remark in that tweet above about the Y chromosome and him being happy with it, I'm honestly incredibly glad he doesn't show any signs of being trans. I know parents always say "no signs", but we've tried to make super clear he could tell us anything and had "the talk".

We've had the embarrassing talk about sexuality and relationships, why he should avoid porn (at least until he's a lot older, I'd honestly rather he never looks at it, but he's a boy, so as long as he waits until he's 18 and how to avoid dangerous sites etc it's good).

We've talked about why it's important to always use a condom even if the girl says she's on the pill, STDs etc, why avoiding pregnancy is bad, consent and why nobody should ever pressure him to do anything he's not comfortable with.

Basically, normal sex ed.

But in his case he's also growing up with two mums in a gay marriage and one trans, not to mention a bi older sister, so some basic understanding of LGBT issues is kinda automatic to an extent.

But we also wanted to be certain that if he himself is LGBT in any way he can tell us

And of course in general, anything he might feel awkward or shameful about of any nature, not just gender and sexuality (to date he seems pretty much cishet), he can talk to us - or if not us his big brother and sister.

The recent childline issues had me talking about it in front of family, and we also made clear to son that he could always talk to them himself if he ever needed to, also told him the number.

I can't see any reason a loving parent would want to deny their child support.

For those unaware, lookup mermaids and the exit button, not going into it here.

Anyway, basically I'd never want my son to suffer like I did - the closet is an awful scary place - if he's LGBT or has anything else I want him to feel accepted and supported.

Same goes for so many things, even stuff like religious beliefs.

I believe it to be child abuse to push religion on a child, so I've always tried to protect him from stuff like mandatory prayer in schools.

He tells me he's glad I did, because he hated it.

We talk about religion and philosophy and politics in this house all the time, and on any issue I've always made a point of making clear when something is just my own personal beliefs and values, and when something is objective fact or close to it.

For example, once he was old enough and mature enough to understand it, I explained my religion (Satanism), which he'd undoubtedly ask about eventually anyway when seeing baphomets and my altar or satanic Bible etc.

I made it as clear as I possibly could that Satanism is my religion, but that doesn't automatically mean it must be his too. In fact, it would be highly unsatanic and unwise to try to push Satanism onto anyone, much less a child and especially ones own child.

Same goes for my gender identity - I couldn't imagine trying to push him to be trans - not that it's even possible.

That'd be obvious abuse, I hope anyone would agree.

But even if not, why would I want my child to suffer like I have?

Even without the pain of the closet and associated traumas, gender dysphoria is incredibly painful.

I really really hope he isn't trans because I know our suffering and don't want my child to suffer.

But I also just fundamentally feel pushing our views and beliefs (being trans isn't a belief of course, but you understand) onto children is a form of child abuse.

My son is his own person, I will always support him no matter what, but he is his own person.

Which brings me back round to the point of this thread.

I've been remarkably proud of him getting better coding and other technical skills and love teaching him and showing him the joy of making a machine obey us, very literal and real magic.

But also uneasy.

Because although it's natural he'll be influenced by me whether or not I consciously try to, and will take after me, I so strongly believe it's wrong to push our views on our children, I fear he might be a little too much like me.