I'm after some advice from anyone who has experience of gender dysphoria, either as parent, professional or your own personal experience if you feel like sharing.
I have a ten year old boy who announced he wanted to be a girl nearly a year ago. Nothing more came of it, he didn't mention it again although he began to grow his hair.
He recently asked for a t-shirt from the girls section during a shopping trip which I was happy to buy. More recently he asked for a dress and some sandals which he then wore out to a school function.
He's had indepth chats with me and a member of staff at his school and has stated he feels like a girl, wants people to use she/her pronouns and wants to wear girls clothes. He's also said he feels huge relief at having told me and he seems 'lighter' somehow.
I have agreed to the requests. I am finding the she/her change difficult though, which is weird because I've never had a problem using other people's preferred pronouns even if I knew them as something different originally. I also feel a lot of sadness that he wants to change his name. I love his name. I know it's only a name but still...
The school agree that there are very clear signs that he is completely serious about this and I've been been surprised by just how calm, articulate and matter of fact he has been about it all. The school have suggested I contact the GP for a counselling referral which I will be doing next week (I've got to go there in person because the phone just rings out - very frustrating).
I have also applied to join Mermaids but there's a moderation process and they are not phoning me until the middle of next week.
Would people mind sharing their experiences please? For instance, the timeline of the transition?
Has anyone experienced it just being a phase that lasted a while?
He seems quite happy from a mental health perspective at the moment. Is this likely to change? Especially when he reaches puberty?
Any advice or words of wisdom are welcome.
*I've used 'he' during this to avoid any confusion.
I have a ten year old boy who announced he wanted to be a girl nearly a year ago. Nothing more came of it, he didn't mention it again although he began to grow his hair.
He recently asked for a t-shirt from the girls section during a shopping trip which I was happy to buy. More recently he asked for a dress and some sandals which he then wore out to a school function.
He's had indepth chats with me and a member of staff at his school and has stated he feels like a girl, wants people to use she/her pronouns and wants to wear girls clothes. He's also said he feels huge relief at having told me and he seems 'lighter' somehow.
I have agreed to the requests. I am finding the she/her change difficult though, which is weird because I've never had a problem using other people's preferred pronouns even if I knew them as something different originally. I also feel a lot of sadness that he wants to change his name. I love his name. I know it's only a name but still...
The school agree that there are very clear signs that he is completely serious about this and I've been been surprised by just how calm, articulate and matter of fact he has been about it all. The school have suggested I contact the GP for a counselling referral which I will be doing next week (I've got to go there in person because the phone just rings out - very frustrating).
I have also applied to join Mermaids but there's a moderation process and they are not phoning me until the middle of next week.
Would people mind sharing their experiences please? For instance, the timeline of the transition?
Has anyone experienced it just being a phase that lasted a while?
He seems quite happy from a mental health perspective at the moment. Is this likely to change? Especially when he reaches puberty?
Any advice or words of wisdom are welcome.
*I've used 'he' during this to avoid any confusion.