My 13-year-old stepdaughter identifies as a FOX and jumps around in a mask and tail - now she's convinced my nine-year-old to act like GIRAFFE

A woman has sought advice about on how to handle her 13-year-old stepdaughter self identifying as a fox.

The stepmom, Jill, was uncertain how to react on discovering the teen was a 'therian' - a person who identifies as a non-human animal - she told mental health podcast The Dr. John Delony Show.

'She wears a mask and a tail and has a YouTube channel of her jumping around like a fox in really short shorts,' the horrified woman continued, adding that the girl's biological mother was seemingly encouraging the behavior at her house. 

Briefly asking Jill to pause, Dr. John emphasized that outside of his show, 'in the real world' he tries to be 'compassionate,' and added that he's 'worked with young people my whole career, like teenagers and young adults, so nothing surprises me.'

A woman called into The Dr. John Delony Show for advice after her 13-year-old stepdaughter began identifying herself as a fox (stock image)

'But the fact that there's a name for this … I feel like we're in the Twilight zone,' he admitted.

The clearly exasperated woman continued: 'That's why I'm calling you.

'Because I'm at a complete loss and I'm shocked and it is a whole thing and there's a name and there's terminology and there's things that are offensive to them.' 

In an even more bizarre twist, the stepdaughter had apparently also converted Jill's nine-year-old biological daughter into a therian - with her stepsister now identifying as a giraffe, the flabbergasted woman relayed.

The stepdaughter had also made and posted a video with Jill's two 'young kids' over Christmas, which the parents hadn't even known about until later. 

Jill went on to ask Dr. John if she should let her own daughter 'continue to be a giraffe' - and, 'more importantly, what rules do I have in place in my home about the internet and screens and social media?'

'And can I tell my stepdaughter that her cell phone's not allowed here?' she added.

'And overall, big picture, what kind of relationship should I have with my stepdaughter?

Jill added she's become even more concerned since her teenage stepdaughter encouraged her little sister, 9, to embrace becoming a giraffe (stock image)

'Since I'm not her bio parent, but so much of her influence is over my house and my daughter, who's absolutely in love with her, adores her, and I'm sure a big reason my daughter's doing this is to gain good favors with the stepdaughter.'

Dr. John offered that his own daughter, eight, regularly played make-believe while dressed up as a princess, and this behavior was healthy and normal.

'If your kid wants to dress up like a giraffe and run in the backyard, I don't have an inherent problem with that, understanding that she's not going to dress like a giraffe when we go out to dinner. She's not going to dress like a giraffe when friends come over,' he explained of the boundaries around the child's preferences.

'Because you don't "identify as" - that language is just madness. It's so strange that we're even having this conversation.'

He further urged the parents to stop 'one-eye cringing' at the behavior - and rather look at at it with 'two [eyes] wide open.'

When Dr. John asked Jill where her husband was in all this, she responded: 'It seems that he's at a place where he feels like it doesn't matter what he says to the stepdaughter or her mom - they're gonna do what they're gonna do… at their house.' 

She added that the father had said 'absolutely not' to the daughter having a YouTube channel months ago - but the biological mom and her daughter launched one anyway. 

The father took particular issue with when the daughter livestreams herself - and Dr. John cut in to emphasize that the vast majority of any viewers were in all likelihood 'adult men.' 

'When you hand a kid a smartphone, you're not giving them access to the world - you're giving the world access to them,' he declared.

'This is a video channel for grown men,' he speculated of the teen's YouTube presence.

'It sent shivers down my spine, that any adult would let their kid do this.'

He also expressed concern that the stepdaughter's online behavior could open her up to grooming from sexual predators.

Beyond her safety being an issue, Dr. John went on to explain that, amid the rapid physical changes of early adolescence, kids want to know of their parents: 'Do you see me? Do you see all of me? And do you really love me?'

'Kids, especially teenagers, are incredibly vulnerable to positive feedback loops,' he stressed.

Jill chimed in, 'My heart breaks for her - that's exactly what she says, is she doesn't feel seen or heard by the adults in her life. You know, she's in therapy and stuff.'

Dr. John then advised Jill to have the father call his daughter's therapist - adding that, in most states, parents of minors are included in doctor-patient confidentiality laws.

Jill added that her stepdaughter 'went through regular therapy for many years, and it's almost like kind of nobody knows like what to do with her.'

'And you know what, she's not a bad kid. She's like very respectful and she helps my kids and she does the dishes,' she said.

'There's just something else going on at the other house.'

Jill also added her stepdaughter had been searching for 'anime porn' and on other occasions was caught being intimate in a closet with other girls. 

Dr. John urged Jill to focus on what she could control as a parent - namely, by laying down hardline rules about phone and YouTube usage when the stepdaughter was under her roof. 

'What she needs from y'all - I love the word Dr. Becky Kennedy uses - she needs sturdiness. She needs sturdy parents who are going to stand there in storm while the winds rage because those winds are 13 years old,' Dr. John emphasized.

'You're playing a 10-year game with her. You want her to turn around at 26 and be like, "Those two people never stopped fighting for me, and they really cared for me."'

As for the nine-year-old, Dr. John insisted that her imagination not be 'squashed' - so long as she understood  that she was not a giraffe.

Jill said she was fine with the giraffe preoccupation insofar as it was a creative outlet for her daughter - but she was 'not okay with her posting it for likes and subscribers and for getting validation from outside sources.'

Dr. John confirmed that online attention was a 'cheap, dime-store version of what affirmation is.'

'But for many millions of kids who are holding a smartphone, it's all they got,' he pointed out.

Jill reiterated: 'So I'm going to have to do a little bit of backtracking, because we're going to have to lay down some rules with the stepdaughter about the cell phone and that we're not okay with her posting my children on her YouTube channels.'

Dr. John said when they sit down and have a conversation about the matter, the parents should take full responsibility and apologize for not setting boundaries sooner.

'But be very clear about what your goals are, why you want to do these things, what your boundaries are going to be, write them down, and open up the conversation, and do it over a meal. And say, "This is going to be hard, but you know that we love you and we know we have one job, that's to keep you safe,"' he said.

He concluded: 'I'm sorry, Jill. That's tough, it's tough being a stepparent who feels powerless. It's tough being with a husband who's just like, "I'm exhausted." And you can't quit. And this weird world where kids are running their own TV shows, live. 

'And now we're into the therian world … I don't have words for it. It's just madness.

'At the same time we have an innovation and imagination crisis in our world, and so I don't want to take imagination and fun and play and building and running around and being giraffes.

'But you have to stay anchored to the real world. You have to stay anchored to reality.

'And you have to stay anchored to some sort of decorum. As a culture, we can't throw out all decorum, because you get anarchy, you get chaos.'

Jill's stepdaughter is not the only young person to openly self-identify as an animal as of late.

Naia Ōkami, from Seattle, insists that she identifies as a wolf 'on all levels except physical,' as DailyMail.com has reported.

In 2023, DailyMail.com also reported on the wider 'rise of the therians' as a trend, with much of the momentum coming from TikTok.