Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield got into a heated discussion with their guests, Nigel and Sally Rowe, who removed their six-year-old son from school after one of his classmates wanted to identify as a girl. Speaking about their decision to home school their son instead, Sally said: "This has been very painful because we're friends with these people, we love the school… but we see the effect of this and we felt the process that happened wasn't right… One day they just turned up, a boy wearing a girl's dress with a girl's name, and we feel that this child needs to be taken aside with medical advice."
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© Photo: RexHolly then suggested that it might have been an opportunity to educate the children, telling the parents: "You made the decision to take both of your children out and home school them out of stress, and I can understand that it can be a shock… but is this not part of the understanding that by doing this there is greater understanding. It could have been a chance to open up a conversation to educate so it became more normal, so it wasn't a stressful situation." Phillip said: "Children adapt to things very well and things are explained to them they understand very clearly. It's not an issue with the children, it's an issue with you – you're the ones who have the problem."
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After Nigel suggested that the debate needed more scientific research, Phillip added: "It's the same sort of situation as a child who, years ago, would have been terrified, chastised, for coming out as gay. Would you have been part of those people who would say, 'No not in my school,' because things move on. People change, attitudes change. We're less medieval than we used to be."
