Yeah. If your kid declares themselves transgender at puberty-ish, get them into counseling. determine what they mean and if transition is something they want to work towards eventually.
If your kid declares themselves transgender at five, let them. Either it's a phase, in which you can play along and they'll forget about it in a week, or it's not, in which case, let it ride and keep 'em safe till puberty's about to hit.
If your kid DOESN'T declare themselves transgender, and is just a little boy who wants to wear a pink sparkly tutu.... let him wear his pink sparkly tutu. He doesn't have to be a girl to wear one. His skirt ain't gonna kilt-check him.
This is quite true, my little cousin likes carry a purse and I'm sure he likes being male. I really despise people who just want to show how wonderful and accepting they are in order to further their position in the social hierarchy.
As a kid I hated stereotypical women's items. In fact, I'm still preferential to masculine clothing and items. (Videogames, and suits v. Shopping and dresses). My family is the opposite of many. They're pretty conservative and don't even believe transgender people exist.
I still identify as a straight female who just acts like a guy. I say let kids be kids. Guide them but let them come into their own identities. And don't do any transitioning (i.e. permanent) things til you're over 18.
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Edited 8 years ago
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· 8 years ago
Let kids be kids. Let them play with whatever they want and dress however they want without thinking "little Billy likes playing with barbies and wearing tutus, he must be a girl inside!"
If my parents had been "open" about that sort of thing I would be very confused today. I'm a straight female but from the age of 3-7 I wanted desperately to be a boy, called myself a boy, dressed like a boy. I have always been a tomboy, still prefer to dress in jeans and t-shirts, but am 100% female. I guess it was a phase I went through.
This is the sort of thing that a lot of people don't seem to realize. A four year old has only barely come to recognize their existence, and certainly doesn't know enough to determine their gender. IT CAN BE A PHASE. A 30 year old male who transitions to be a woman knows what she is doing. A child? Not so much
Agreed. I think many people are going at it the completely wrong way, with the "genderfluid" and "mind your pronouns" horseshit. We shouldn't eliminate the concept of gender, we should eliminate gender ROLES. Just because you're a girl and you like stereotypically boyish stuff doesn't mean you're secretly a boy and vice versa. It's the stereotype that some things belong to boys and some to girls that we should eliminate, not create a thousand genders to explain why someone likes this and that.
But what if the kid is like "Hey, I don't feel like I belong in this body something is definitely different for me," without any prompting from their parents? That's just what I'm wondering because I do agree that that mindset can possibly be a phase and they can outgrow it I know someone who did think they were actually a boy but it ended up just being a phase for her but what if the child, like I said, is dead set on them being in the wrong body without influence from parents?
If your kid declares themselves transgender at five, let them. Either it's a phase, in which you can play along and they'll forget about it in a week, or it's not, in which case, let it ride and keep 'em safe till puberty's about to hit.
If your kid DOESN'T declare themselves transgender, and is just a little boy who wants to wear a pink sparkly tutu.... let him wear his pink sparkly tutu. He doesn't have to be a girl to wear one. His skirt ain't gonna kilt-check him.
This is what I'm talking about.
This person is awesome!
I still identify as a straight female who just acts like a guy. I say let kids be kids. Guide them but let them come into their own identities. And don't do any transitioning (i.e. permanent) things til you're over 18.