In this week’s support group inside the Parents of Trans Youth Community, we discussed how to tell extended family that your kiddo is transgender, nonbinary, or somewhere else on the gender spectrum.

There’s a lot to consider:

Is your kid ready?

Maybe they want the world to know! Or maybe they don’t want to tell anyone, and that’s ok. AND sometimes they need to be walked through the bigger picture, which might help with their decision about coming out to family.

Does your kid want to be the one to tell people, or do they want your help?

Many times kids ask their parents to tell family members for them. This is big information, and it's helpful to be the buffer between your kid and any emotional reactions.

How are you going to tell people?

You know your family best. Maybe you’re sure everything will go great, so you just tell them on the phone or when you see them next. But if you think family members might need some time to absorb the information, a letter, email, or even text might be best. That way you can give the news to multiple people at the same time, which ensures everyone finds out from you and not another family member.

What are you going to say?

Again, you know your family best, and different messages might work with different people. BUT - the main message should be that you love your kid and support them 100%, and you hope they will, too.

What happens after?

If you have any inkling that the news will go sideways, have your support system ready - whether that’s your partner, friend, whomever - so you have someone to lean on that’s not your kid.

You got this!

If you need help with extended family stuff, I want to share a resource that's available to you.

We offer an introductory virtual course, Parents of Trans Youth 101, covering the basics of parenting trans kids and young adults.

The course is $45 and about an hour long. It's prerecorded so you can watch the video lessons whenever you want.

If you want to learn more about what's included in the course, click the button below.

Mandy Giles​
Founder and CEO
​Parents of Trans Youth​

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Parents of Trans Youth provides learning, support, and community to parents and caregivers of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse kids. DONATE NOW ​​

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