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The Conscious Parent's Guide to Gender Identity: A Mindful Approach to Embracing Your Child's Authentic Self
If your child is questioning their gender identity, you may have questions of your own— T he Conscious Parent's Guide to Gender Identity helps answer those questions, providing a relationship-oriented approach to supporting your child's journey.
Conscious parenting means being present with your children and taking the time to understand their point of view, especially when it comes to supporting their exploration of gender identity. Using this mindful method, you can support and guide your children as they discover their authentic selves.
With this easy-to-navigate guide, you'll learn how
-Communicate openly with your child about gender identity
-Empower your child to make their own decisions
-Create a welcoming environment at home
-Guide your child through social and medical transitions
-Help your child feel comfortable with friends, at school, and in your community
-Deal with others' opinions about your parenting choices
-Plan a happy, successful future for you and your child
This mindful method of parenting will allow you and your children to strengthen your bond while allowing them to be who they truly are.
Conscious parenting means being present with your children and taking the time to understand their point of view, especially when it comes to supporting their exploration of gender identity. Using this mindful method, you can support and guide your children as they discover their authentic selves.
With this easy-to-navigate guide, you'll learn how
-Communicate openly with your child about gender identity
-Empower your child to make their own decisions
-Create a welcoming environment at home
-Guide your child through social and medical transitions
-Help your child feel comfortable with friends, at school, and in your community
-Deal with others' opinions about your parenting choices
-Plan a happy, successful future for you and your child
This mindful method of parenting will allow you and your children to strengthen your bond while allowing them to be who they truly are.
- GenresParentingNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2016
44 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 30, 2021
The book starts with a synopsis of conscious parenting. Basically the basics. Next the author covers the ins and outs of gender identity. Following this some more on parenting and then a couple of chapters about parenting gender-expansive and transgender children. After this there are a couple of chapters on self-care. Following this comes the issues: intervention, outside influences, family, teasing and bullying, school, and dysphoria. The last chapter again emphasizes self-care. Included are a number of helpful appendixes.
The following are some comments I had on specific pieces of text. Numbers in brackets [] are page numbers using Kindle pagination.
[29] “To whom you are attracted doesn’t matter when you are checking out at the grocery store.” It would if you have a crush on the checker.
[38] “Some individuals don’t realize their gender doesn’t match their natal sex until they are much older, but when they do, a lot of pieces fall into place.” This feels more inclusive than a good many transgender and gender non-confirming books I have read that often focuses in on the person knowing there gender difference in childhood.
[119] “Often when you don’t know the future, you ‘fill in the blank’ with ideas about potential outcomes.” That is when I tell myself “the future is open.”
[159] “The point of reference a child has in regard to what is honest depends upon what they have been told about gender, what makes someone a boy, a girl, or if they have been given options that include feeling both or neither. One way to help children understand that it’s okay to be true to themselves is to explain the difference between anatomical sex (body) and internal gender identity (heart and brain), as well as the fact that their internal gender identity is who they ’truly’ are. This gives them the green light to relax and know that when they assert their internal gender, they are in fact telling the truth.” A good portrait of gender neutral parenting.
[206] “Some start out with a little dysphoria that intensifies over time.” That’s me. Except for body hair I did not have much dysphoria until I started transitioning, and it went on this increase with some ebbs and flows.
The book provides excellent approach to parenting a transgender or gender non-confirming child. It is actually a good approach for any child. I can see this book being beneficial to an already conscious parenting person, which includes mindfulness techniques. It is not something to be expected to develop through reading this book.
So, my recommendation is basically for a parent that wants to apply their conscious parenting skills towards the gender expansive and transgender child. A non-parent might learn some of the issues with parenting such a child if they were interested.
The following are some comments I had on specific pieces of text. Numbers in brackets [] are page numbers using Kindle pagination.
[29] “To whom you are attracted doesn’t matter when you are checking out at the grocery store.” It would if you have a crush on the checker.
[38] “Some individuals don’t realize their gender doesn’t match their natal sex until they are much older, but when they do, a lot of pieces fall into place.” This feels more inclusive than a good many transgender and gender non-confirming books I have read that often focuses in on the person knowing there gender difference in childhood.
[119] “Often when you don’t know the future, you ‘fill in the blank’ with ideas about potential outcomes.” That is when I tell myself “the future is open.”
[159] “The point of reference a child has in regard to what is honest depends upon what they have been told about gender, what makes someone a boy, a girl, or if they have been given options that include feeling both or neither. One way to help children understand that it’s okay to be true to themselves is to explain the difference between anatomical sex (body) and internal gender identity (heart and brain), as well as the fact that their internal gender identity is who they ’truly’ are. This gives them the green light to relax and know that when they assert their internal gender, they are in fact telling the truth.” A good portrait of gender neutral parenting.
[206] “Some start out with a little dysphoria that intensifies over time.” That’s me. Except for body hair I did not have much dysphoria until I started transitioning, and it went on this increase with some ebbs and flows.
The book provides excellent approach to parenting a transgender or gender non-confirming child. It is actually a good approach for any child. I can see this book being beneficial to an already conscious parenting person, which includes mindfulness techniques. It is not something to be expected to develop through reading this book.
So, my recommendation is basically for a parent that wants to apply their conscious parenting skills towards the gender expansive and transgender child. A non-parent might learn some of the issues with parenting such a child if they were interested.
June 9, 2023
Excellent guide for parents navigating gender identity with their children.
November 8, 2017
really good stuff here
August 21, 2022
This is an excellent book. Please read this and follow the guide to support your transitioning/ non-binary/ gender queer child!
April 23, 2017
This is my first “Conscious Parent's” guide, but I found it very helpful for tips in dealing with all of my kids. It does indeed offer insight specifically into approaching parenting non-binary children, and I appreciated some concrete examples of ways to respond. I liked the meditations they suggested, even if I don't feel I personally need to utilize them. It's a nice addition for people who respond well to visualizations.
I like that the author included how to respond consciously to all of your family, including extended family and local society. This is a great book for helping mindfulness in one's interactions. I appreciated the section on schools even though we homeschool, and I found advice that will help me in other interactions where my child is involved. Including info about the laws and our rights was helpful as well.
I think this is a great resource for anyone who is struggling with how to respond to a gender-expansive child, whether it is your own child or not. It strikes a good balance of showing things though the lens of parents in various stages of their journey as well as showing things through the children's eyes. It may have been a situation of 'preaching to the choir', but I enjoyed this book and will definitely be more mindful in my parenting approaches.
I like that the author included how to respond consciously to all of your family, including extended family and local society. This is a great book for helping mindfulness in one's interactions. I appreciated the section on schools even though we homeschool, and I found advice that will help me in other interactions where my child is involved. Including info about the laws and our rights was helpful as well.
I think this is a great resource for anyone who is struggling with how to respond to a gender-expansive child, whether it is your own child or not. It strikes a good balance of showing things though the lens of parents in various stages of their journey as well as showing things through the children's eyes. It may have been a situation of 'preaching to the choir', but I enjoyed this book and will definitely be more mindful in my parenting approaches.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews