Friday, September 10, 2010

The Day I told My Daughter



Telling my daughter was probably the hardest moment I've had during my transition so far. I had no idea how to tell her in a way she would understand what was happening. And, I was terrified she would reject me. So I decided to tell her gradually. By asking questions and telling her little stories of different people and even animals.

Eventually, I had to actually sit her down and directly tell her what was going on.

Kids aren't dumb, she had been noticing things about me for a while. She would tell me I looked like a girl or I was acting like a girl. She noticed that my chest was changing and a few other things. But she didn't think much of any of it. She just thought it was a bit funny at the times she would notice and then she would move on.

It took me a long while after I decided it was beyond time to actually tell her what was going on. And she knew I was having trouble and wanted to tell her something. She thought it was funny but would get a little frustrated sometimes and yell - Just tell me...if you don't know what to say just say it...it doesn't matter!

I eventually took her advice and just started talking -


You like being a girl. Right?! 
Yep!
Well, I really hate being a boy
HA HA, you wanna be a gi-irl, HA HA, HA HA...³
Yeah!
*silence*


I was terrified. In my head, I KNEW - She was ashamed. She wanted to get away from me. She hated me...but I was wrong. One of the biggest smiles I have ever seen grew from ear to ear as she started to jump up and down yelling - YAY YAY YAY...now we can play and you can come to my school and...and...


Her mum and I were completely shocked by her response. Her mum had told me the little lady wouldn't care, but she didn't think she would be excited about it.

My daughter has surprised me countless times before with her beautiful heart. But this time, I absolutely melted. She wasn't concerned with the possibility of losing me as her dad or anything like that. My daughter was excited that I was going to be born again. That she was going to be able to take care of me. My daughter was offering to be my big sister as I grew up as a little girl.

The look that filled her face after I explained I couldn't be little again and I couldn't grow up into a little girl broke my heart. She was so upset that I couldn't be a little girl. But I explained that I can live as a grown up woman and I could be happy that way. She went silent again, gave me a hug and said - At least you don't really look like a boy! Can we watch Hannah Montana?

6 comments:

  1. I'm a bit late reading this but what a beautiful story! Kids can really surprise you with how honest and accepting they are. They aren't jaded like us "grown ups".

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  2. The weird part is - we know how special innocence is and how magical being open and honest can be. But we're all too quick to snap it out of people.

    PS. I hope the move went well!

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  3. this post made me cry...i'm so happy for you.

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  4. @ Ashley - you're such a sweetheart!

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  5. That is pretty much a beautiful and amazing story.

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  6. @ Brooke - I'm lucky to have a daughter with such a beautiful and open heart...

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