Young Kiddo Exploring Gender

Here are some things that I’ve either found useful or have heard others find useful:

Books for Kiddo + Family to Enjoy
I’d suggest a pre-read on all of these to make sure they feel like the messaging that works best for you. I also have a million more titles in this section, if needed.

• A House for Everyone – folks who are just themselves all do their part to make a great fort
• Call Me Max – Kiddo navigating first day of school
• It Feels Good to be Yourself – a book about gender identity
• Neither – not quite a bird and not quite a bunny, a sweet book about inclusivity
• Fred Gets Dressed – he wears a dress, everyone in the book gets to wear what makes them happy
• I am Jazz – clear book written by/with a trans person about their experience growing up, describes and answers questions about trans-ness
• Bell’s Knock Knock Birthday – more for the twins, an enby kid who has a birthday party with lots of non-stereotypically gendered folks
• Julian is a Mermaid – kiddo wears a dress and is worried his grandmother won’t approve. She does. Beautiful book.
• Introducing Teddy  – a gentle story about gender and friendship
• Red; A Crayon’s Story – a blue crayon was mistakenly placed in a red wrapper. It can’t draw red, no matter how it tries. Then it embraces that it’s blue.
• Lumberjanes – likely for a bit older, graphic novel, main character is a trans girl.
• For “Body Books” – anything by Cory Silverberg is inclusive, very simple up to more complex. Talking about bodies and parts rather than assigning body parts to specific genders. D loved What Makes a Baby when he was little. Sex is a Funny Word is another one of Silverberg’s
• The Every Body Book – a *fantastic*, but dense, inclusive body book. Likely above Felix’s interest level right now, but would be great to have around.
• The Gender Wheel – one take on the connections and language around someone’s body/inside/pronoun
• Who Are You?: The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity – another take on the connections between gender identity, gender expression, and pronouns (fuzzy memory: there may be allegations of plagiarism against this one from the former one)

Some resources to build vocab, spark ideas, answer questions, and find support.

• The Transgender Child, Brill & Pepper; Highly recommended, though I haven’t read it yet
• Gender Expansive Youth Report, HRC (attached PDF: Gender-expansive-youth-report.pdf) – some good stuff in here, including how to provide support fof someone exploring their gender. Some nuggets for teachers too.
• Exploring Gender Identity w/ Kiddos: https://www.pbssocal.org/education/exploring-gender-identity-and-expression-with-children, some basic thinking and resources
• Check out TransActive – resources, support groups, etc
• Check out PFLAG – resources, support groups, etc

In pursuit of building/creating a place where Kiddo can explore safely…

• Guidance for creating a gender-inclusive classroom. (attached PDF: Gegi.pdf) Bonus: It’s in a format ready to hand to Kiddo’s teacher.
• GLSEN – Educator Resources. SO much good stuff here.
• GLSEN – LGBTQ-Visibility and Integration in Elementary Schools
• The Teaching Transgender Toolkit – super cool book. Teacher reference book with lots of activities that can be adapted for many different things. I’ve adapted for work things and so has Mali for her Trans Care presentations