How to Tell the Kids

Noelle has a short post with a big question.  The post is titled, How to tell the kids?, and I am going to re-post it here:

It’s time to tell my kids I’m trans and I could use some help.

I’ve been on hormones for almost a year and I’m looking at social transition in the Spring or Summer, and my wife and I are thinking of telling them over this Winter break so they have some time to digest it.

They’re 5 and 8, so I need to keep it fairly basic. My concise message is this:

I love you, and I will always love you. I’m going to be changing next year, and I want you to know that no matter how I change, I will love you.

I’m going to change from being a boy to being a girl. I’ll wear girl clothes and makeup and look more and more like a girl next year.

I’m changing to be happier. I’ve always thought that I would be happier as a girl, so that’s what I’m going to do.

I’ll still be your parent and I’m not going anywhere. I will be here to take care of you and love you.

Are there any other salient points you think I should mention? I don’t want to overload them and expect that there will be future conversations about things like my new name, how to talk to other people about it, etc. I also expect that they’ll have some questions during/after this.

Any suggestions, stories, or pointers to resources would be most appreciated!

Thanks!

You can go over to Becoming Me if you want to offer Noelle advice.

I was recently checking out Stacey's T-Volve blog and noticed a post, from 2011, titled Coming Out to My Daughter.  In that post, Stacey says, ....I've come out to just about every family member and friend with whom I'm in contact, the one glaring omission from that list was my daughter....

Telling her daughter was not easy.  Indeed, at first the divorce papers prevented Stacey from having the talk but, with professional advice and a lot of thought, Stacey did tell her daughter.  It's a beautiful story and one that many of you, including Noelle, might benefit from.