Therapy for all?

[Joann]

* She and most of her friends attend the Gay/Straight Alliance meetings at our school. There are a couple of FtM transgender students there, who are treated with a lot of respect, so at least I can hope that her friends will know I'm not a freak.

Wow... That's great...
Amazing how much things have changed in just the past 10 years, but still need to change.
Wondering how and when to tell my kids.

[Adam (birkin)]

I think it is good to tell your kids that therapy is an option and they have someone they can chat with if needed, but I think forcing people into therapy is no good.

My brother was prodded endlessly to go into counselling as I came out, because off the "trauma" of losing his sister, but he honestly just doesn't want it. He's not entirely OK with my transition, uses old names/pronouns, but he just doesn't see a benefit in talking about it and I really believe he wants to figure it out on his own. Just because it's hard to accept or understand doesn't mean it's going to wreck the kid.

Therapy also doesn't tend to be beneficial unless the person in it is open to gain something from it.

[Beverly]

Actually this is going to be an issue. You see I teach in the same school my kids attend (we drive together every morning). Probably won't be an issue for my son, he'll have graduated before I go full-time, but my daughter's friends will all end up knowing.

I know someone who has done exactly this. She transitioned with her child in her school but she simply dressed fairly masculine and whilst in the earlier part of her transition used her male name to the children. By the time she was transitioned her daughter had left the school and she became 'Miss' to the kids.

It all seemed to work out.

[Taka]

kids are often open to role play, even teenagers are, if you're cool about it. when you teach you're playing a different role than outside school, so as long as you're natural, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. getting support from and looking cool to the trans friendly kids might help your kids a lot in accepting you. all kids want their parents to be seen as cool, and they're usually only embarrassed of their parents if they're totally uncool. my daughter loves my horrible hair colors, but i'm sure she wouldn't if the other kids didn't like it too. i hope to always be someone she can be proud of and brag about, and i think this has a lot more to do with my attitude toward her and other kids than how i dress (as long as i wear fairly decent clothing)