Five months after my son came out as transgender, my grandfather died. In a year where I was trying to figure out which way was up, suddenly my world went dark. I was already thick in the midst of grief. At the time, I thought it was because I had lost my daughter. I would… Continue reading The Only Way Through Grief is to Move Forward
I remember the day my therapist told me the feeling I was experiencing was grief. It was a few months after Leo came out, and I was staring out her office window watching it snow. The compassion on her face made me cry in those early days, so I would take a break from looking… Continue reading Your Grief Is Not About Your Child Being Transgender
We’ve talked about how vital your support network is after your child comes out as transgender. You need friends and family who can support you so you can support your child. But your friends and family can only help you so much. When my son Leo came out as transgender, it was over the weekend.… Continue reading Your Support Network Should Include a Therapist
In the days after my son Leo came out as transgender, I wasn’t sure who I could talk to about how I was feeling. Part of it was because I didn’t know if my feelings were okay. The other part was more complicated. I didn’t want anyone to misinterpret my emotions as a lack of… Continue reading Who Can You Talk To About Your Child?
When my son Leo came out as transgender, I spent hours trying to learn everything about what that meant. I wanted to know all the terms and acronyms, so I didn’t mess up when I spoke to him about it. I tried to learn all the different types of transitions to understand what his next… Continue reading You Don’t Have to Have It All Figured Out
My son came out as transgender in a Facebook post six years ago. During the hours of that cold January day, I spent a lot of time on Google. I searched for answers to questions and looked up words I didn’t understand. It did nothing to make me feel better. If anything, all that searching… Continue reading So, Your Child is Transgender. Now What?
For the second year in a row, the most-read post on this website is “You Can Grieve and Support Your Child.” This year, it has almost 4,000 views. When I wrote it in the fall of 2019, it was in response to a New York Times article that said parents who grieve after their child… Continue reading Support for Ourselves So We Can Support Our Child
Gender: Your Guide – A Gender-Friendly Primer On What to Know, What to Say, and What to Do in the New Gender Culture by Lee Airton, Ph.D. is a book that should be on every bookcase in America. You don’t need to have a transgender child or family member to read this book. The book… Continue reading Review: Gender: Your Guide by Lee Airton
When I became a parent, I worked hard to remain true to who I was. I engaged in hobbies and maintained friendships, and even went back to school at the age of thirty-nine. I knew that there would be a transitional period when my children left home as I adjusted to not being a full-time… Continue reading When You Feel Like You’ve Lost Yourself
It’s the holiday season. If you are like me, you have personalized ornaments and stockings in your storage bins waiting to be hung up. But, what do you do with personalized items when your child comes out as transgender? How do you navigate the holiday season when there are so many decisions to make? What… Continue reading What to Do With Personalized Items
