Furry Creativity Is Healthy for Young Kids

Hi, Papabear!

So I'm dealing with a issue lately. My parents keep on wanting me to not show my furry side of me. Its a long story but i will make it quick. My friend and I got in a huge fight over me just being a furry and my parents told me, "You can pretend to be a animal but dressing up as one has to stop." My heart just stopped for 1 sec. I just sat in my room and started to get mad because we are not animals and it's a insult. I know he did not mean to do it, but it still hurts. I really want to show him a Moms of Furries video. But I highly doubt he would watch all of it. So the only way I can seriously be a furry in any way is Zootopia. But that is what I thought...

He got on me for THAT too! Now I can't be a furry and that's not fair. Now I just want to send cool art of anthro animals to my friends but no... I CAN'T (ugh).

Hope you can help,

GlaDOS the wolf age:11

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Dear GLaDOS,

I've been receiving more and more letters from furries like you who are under 15 years of age. Unlike older furries, who are often out on their own, have transportation, and can socialize and be independent, being a very young furry can be difficult because you are under a lot of restrictions: you don't have much, or any, money, you can't hop in a car and go to a furmeet, and your parents control what you do while you are at home (an out in the world, too). That can be very frustrating.

It is important to note, before I proceed, that most parents put various rules and restrictions on their children in an effort to protect them from harm. Some parents of furries forbid them from being furry because they have seen furry porn on the web and feel that it is a bizarre sex thing. Even if that is not the case, many parents forbid furriness because they just think "it's weird" and they are afraid of their children being bullied in school for being weird. They, like most people, are conformists--that is, they want to be "like everyone else" so that they are not rejected by society, and so they want the same for their children. "Normal" society is not imaginative, creative, or playful. "Normal" society is all about getting a college degree, getting a steady job, paying taxes, starting a family, and buying a house.

In other words, boring.

What many modern-day parents do not seem to understand is that imagination is important--especially in childhood, but also into adulthood. Imagination in childhood is exercised through play. Not the highly-organized, regimented play of, say, sports (sports are important for physical health and to learn teamwork, but not for imagination), which is so emphasized by our society, but the unstructured, creative play that is done naturally by most children until it is squashed out of their lives by parents, teachers, and peers. Pretending to be something else, role-playing, and costuming are all valid forms of play, and being furry is certainly one way of expressing this.

Furry roleplay and costuming are beneficial for a number of reasons:

1. Fostering creativity and imagination, which can improve problem-solving abilities later in life.
2. Encouraging empathy by developing the ability to see the world from another perspective. Learning through imitation assists children in exploring their world.
3. In the case of furries, RP and fursuiting bring a closer connection to the animal world and nature, something that is sorely missing from many kids living in urban or suburban environments.
4. Psychologists say that children often cope with emotional turmoil through play. Acting out fears and anxieties through roleplay is extremely beneficial to them.
5. Motor skills can be improved through fursuiting. Learning how to adapt physically to the environment while in costume can actually help things like balance, vision, hearing, and coordination.
6. Furries often engage in crafts, everything from making fursuits to making crafts and art all foster various skills that can even result in future careers in the adult world.
7. Fursuiting and roleplay assist with social skills as children interact with other people, both furries and nonfurries.
8. Memorization and thinking skills: furries often learn a lot about animals, art, furry culture, movies, mythology, history, and other things through furry roleplay, all of which improve cognition.
9. Play is simply fun. In a world full of work, responsibility, and chores, a person needs fun for the sake of their own sanity.

Parents who forbid their kids from doing things without explaining why usually find that this has the opposite effect on their children: the child wants to do that activity more than ever before. Bad parenting is the "Do it (or don't do it) because I said so." Ask your parents to give you a reason why you can't do fursuiting. Then give them the above reasons why it is actually a good and healthy thing to do. If they are afraid of your being teased by kids, well, if you are prepared for teasing then that is not an issue. (You can also explain furry benefits to your friend with the same list above).

Remember, it is the creative people, the people who don't fit in a box, who are the most beautiful, shine the brightest, and live the loudest in this world.

Good Luck, Hon, and Bear Hugs,

Papabear