Being A Parent To A Transitioning Child

(Photo Source: raisingchildren.net.au)

Bella Breakdown

Your child has always been a bit different. Not in a bad way, but maybe not in the sense of traditional gender identity and gender roles. This is something that is happening more and more these days. And you are not alone in not necessarily knowing how to handle it or what to do next.

Maybe your child was born a girl but doesn’t consider herself a girl but rather a boy. He wants to wear boy clothes and always tries to correct you when you call her a girl. This isn’t abnormal. Children as young as three and four are identifying and establishing their own gender roles and gender identity.

Other children show their gender issues in other ways. It isn’t uncommon for children struggling with gender identity to act out and have other emotional issues. Some can even develop depression from repressing their gender and the burden has having this identity crisis. But you have to give your children more credit than you might already do. They know whether or not they feel like a girl or a boy on the inside, regardless of what they were told or what there were assigned when they were born.

For older children, it may not be as easy. When you get to the age of puberty, your child’s feelings and actions need to be handled in a different way. While children as young as three and four can identify gender and gender preference, when you get to high school children, transgender can become more of a physical transformation than just a mental and emotional change. When children become more mature, hormones and other medical interventions can be done for transgender children.

If you find yourself in this situation, there are multiple family counselors that can help you and your child. The counselors work with the families as a team to help develop the best course of action as well as the proper timing for everything as things progress.

Author: Karli Wallace

Share This Post On