Is your Child Gender Questioning

Is your child questioning or exploring how they want to express their gender identity? Have they told you that they are transgender? This series is for you. This can be a trying time for you, your child, family members and friends.

Over the past few years I have watched one of my friends struggle through each of the steps of her daughter's path of transitioning to her son. I plan to guide you through her journey and share some of the ups and downs she has had along the way.  Counseling, informing family and friends, changing hair style, changing wardrobe, hormone treatments, name change, pronouns (the hardest) and surgery are all steps in this process. Since each of these steps bring up many emotions in parents, I plan to discuss each one individually.

Food for Thought: I have also heard from a few different individuals about how damaging it can be when parents are not supportive. If you are a parent struggling with your child's choice, you are not alone. You may not agree with their decision but you can still be supportive. Nothing can hurt a child more than a parent not excepting them for who they are. I think it is important to note that "supporting" doesn't necessarily equal understanding or acceptance. You can outwardly support your child while still figuring out how to accept and understand their choice. This is an example of unconditional parental love.

Ideas on Things to Do While Self Isolating

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**Volunteer by calling neighbors, friends or relatives daily who are self isolating. They are lonely
         and at risk for depression

**Pick up groceries or medications for those who are self isolating

**Start that hobby that you have always wanted to do. I am working on my drawing, painting and                calligraphy.

**See if you can make calls to people in Nursing Homes or Assisted Living Facilities. Due to this
          virus most are locked down and not allowing visitors.

**Donate money to the charities or churches in your community who are helping to provide food for           families in need

**Make online purchases at local businesses if you can.

In this time of crisis, helping others will go a long way to lifting your spirits. Please post any ideas that you have to help others.

Stay calm and stay safe.on

Coronavirus Post 2...Additional Ideas

Many parents are finding themselves having to fill roles that they never imagined that they would need to. Having to function as teachers while working from home can put a great deal of stress on parents. Take care of yourself. Don't work late into the night to catch up on work that you didn't get done during the day. Sleep deprivation lessens productivity, reduces your patience and increases your stress level.  These are all things that I believe to be counterproductive in these trying times. If possible, get family members or friends to help. Since my household is self isolating at this time, we have offered to help my granddaughter with her school work via facetime. This is not extremely difficult, since she is in Kindergarten.

In my last post, I shared with you some ways that we are staying connected with our grandchildren while remaining safe. Here are some others that we have been doing. We sent them on a scavenger hunt. We left a note in their "mailbox" and little sticky notes with clues to each of the next locations. We have been playing tic tac toe on our French doors using dry erase markers.  They had so much fun doing this, that I outlined a coloring book page on the doors with their favorite characters so that they could color them on the door like a stain glass window. Two things that I learned from this activity is to tape the coloring page to the outside of the door and outline on the inside (that way they can reuse the outline) and if there is another page on the back you should hang something behind the page so it is easier to see when outlining.

Keep calm and stay safe.

Talking to Your Children about Coronavirus

The world is changing day by day due to the coronavirus. Schools and businesses are closing for an undetermined period of time. Anxiety and fear in adults is increasing as this threat moves closer and closer to home. How is this effecting our young children and teens? What should we tell our children about this virus and it's effect on our society?

First and foremost, check your level of fear and anxiety. Children and the people around you will feed off your fear. Are you taking all the precautions that the government has suggested? If you are, be somewhat comforted by the fact that you are doing all that you can do to keep yourself and your family safe. If you aren't, begin today.

Talk to your children about the virus in terms that are age appropriate. Younger children can understand about spreading nasty germs. They can be taught that handwashing, elbow bumps instead of hugs and handshakes, and distancing themselves from older family members will help prevent the spread of these nasty germs. I recommend viewing the news with your tweens and teens so you can answer their questions and alleviate their fears about this pandemic and help them to understand the things that they can do to help be part of the solution.

I am a grandparent of two young grandchildren. Due to my asthma, my husband and I are self isolating. We continue to interact with our grandchildren in several ways.  They play games and blow bubbles in our backyard while we watch from inside. We blow kisses and play hand games on the window between us. I am happy to say there are lots of finger prints on our glass door. We are also reading books and playing games via facetime or skype. We are also writing letters and drawing pictures for each other and leaving them in a toy mailbox.

If you have other ideas about staying connected, I would love to hear about them as it looks like we may be in this for the long haul.