A nephew has recently come out an told us that they are transgender, we as a family are extremely proud of them and he has our full support, he is going to commence taking estrogen soon.
I have young children how should I explain this when they start asking questions?. Or should I just let them grow up with it?
Explaining gender change to children
Explaining gender change to children
Posted in:
Kids, Teenagers, Tips and Advice
2 Replies
Explain how their cousin was born in the wrong body, even though she is physically a male on the inside she is a female. Say it in a way of "you know how you look like a girl/boy and you feel like a girl/boy, well *cousin* feels like she is really a girl and she got the wrong body". After that ask them if they have any questions, keep it short and age appropriate while addressing what ever they might want to know.
Your children will understand better than you think so don't worry about it. If your niece is going to be changing her name also add this in as well she was named a boy name because of her physical body but would now like a girl name.
Personally I think When you talk to your kids about it, it's your attitude not Information that's important, be supportive, positive and open about talking about it, respect your cousins decisions and feelings and choices and explain changes in gender or name factually. let your kids know that if you don't know an answer then 'good question, I'm not sure, we could ask... about that.' and I'm sure they'll take it all in as their norm.