Saturday 27 July 2019

10 year old daughter questioning her gender identity


Hi everyone. I'm posting here because I'd like some advice if possible :) I will use neutral pronouns as much as possible and I will word things the best I can so not to cause offence.I have a 10 year old daughter and they have started very much questioning her gender identity. They have, in the last few months, asked to buy clothing from the boys section, they want their hair cutting off and in the last week or so has asked to be referred to as he.We are a very open household, I have a 6 year old son too and my children have always been raised to understand that they live with acceptance and they don't say or do things that will hurt people. I have friends in the LGBTQ+ community and that is something that is very normal in our household and the people that we spend time with and I am a very outspoken supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.I am struggling to know how to best support my 10 year old though. I want them to be as happy as possible, I've switched as many of her clothes out as possible, were in the process of picking a new hair cut that makes them feel more like themselves. I am struggling with the pronoun switch but I'm doing my best and I try and correct myself as often as possible. They are, however, just starting puberty and has a tendency to snap and have a hell of an attitude. They've expressed that they've been nervous to speak to me about this stuff, which breaks my heart because I've always made sure my kids know they can approach me with anything, but this must be a complex thing for them to feel so I'm trying to have as much patience as possible.I don't know if this is something that they will always feel or if they're figuring out their gender identity and maybe this is something in the future that they might feel differently about, I'm a cis-female so I don't have any personal experience and really all I want to do is ensure that they feel loved and accepted as much as possible no matter what. So any advice would be greatly appreciated :)Edit - she does see a therapist already to help her with anxiety she experiences but she's only been to a out 4 sessions :) via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2LJvVF9

No comments:

Post a Comment