school experiences for trans folks

Jet · 06-24-2010, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by softness

I started this thread because I didnt see another thread like it. My daughter just graduated and is now a licensed teacher. She secured a summer position teaching a class of 2nd and 3rd graders. She has 10 children. From day one she had a little "boy" who would always go where the girls were suppose to go. If the girls were to go to the tables to eat while the boys were to clean up the last activity, the child would go to the tables to eat. She never corrected him. When she had them line up to use the restrooms he went into the girls line. She asked him if he thought maybe he should be in the boys line and he said, no, because he was a girl. One of the boys piped upm and told "him" to get into the boys line. My daughter told the boy that this child could pick whatever line he wanted to stand in but when it came time to use the bathroom, (and she cleared it with the child before she said this) "he" would use the boys' room.

The child, (lets call him Randy) has a name that can be used for boy or girl. Randy tells my daughter how he knows he is a girl and thanks her for letting her be (note the pronoun change on purpose now..) who she is. My daughter is very comfortable working with her. She is 8 or 9 years old.

My daughter has asked me to ask the trans community what they wish their teachers had done for them when they were kids in school. How were things handled back then and how should they have been handled instead?

I told my daughter that she is giving Randy a safe environment to be who she is, something she might not ever get again in the school system. I told her that it only takes one person, to make a difference in a kid's life. Her impact will last a lifetime for Randy.

So speak up and give me some things I can take back to my daughter...

I didn't/wouldn't say a thing. Mama would have beat the hell out of me. I'm sure of it. She loved me but she had a terrible and fast temper. She would never have considered as to why or how I felt the way I felt. And I felt this as far back as 4. I lived life appeasing everyone.....but me. I'm starting injections now at age 53. As sure as hell, I'll get disowned. That little girl in your daughter's class is very fortunate to live in this day and age and have people around like your daughter. Children just don't lie and I have always believed we know who really are early on.

Soft*Silver · 06-24-2010, 09:23 PM

Jet...I am so glad you are starting injections! Courage rules!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet

I didn't/wouldn't say a thing. Mama would have beat the hell out of me. I'm sure of it. She loved me but she had a terrible and fast temper. She would never have considered as to why or how I felt the way I felt. And I felt this as far back as 4. I lived life appeasing everyone.....but me. I'm starting injections now at age 53. As sure as hell, I'll get disowned. That little girl in your daughter's class is very fortunate to live in this day and age and have people around like your daughter. Children just don't lie and I have always believed we know who really are early on.

Jet · 06-24-2010, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by softness

Jet...I am so glad you are starting injections! Courage rules!

Courage or stupidity. I haven't decided which one I am as yet.

Soft*Silver · 06-24-2010, 09:32 PM

I vote its courage...stupidity doesnt come to my mind when you are the subject....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet

Courage or stupidity. I haven't decided which one I am as yet.

T D · 06-24-2010, 09:42 PM

Ya know, in the 50's it woulda been a big ole hoopla. The closest I ever came to even hinting at possibly being different was when I announced, at around the age of 6 or 7, that I was NOT having kids, ever! Which I did not. I did however realize in about 1st grade that something was very different for me. I wasn't like the other kids and I knew it.

It took me 50+ years to do something about it.... times, they are very different now!

Many kudos to your daughter!!

Greyson · 06-25-2010, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet

Courage or stupidity. I haven't decided which one I am as yet.

I say COURAGE.

“Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.” Tom Krause

06-24-2010, 09:42 PM	#5
T D Member How Do You Identify?: Person of the trans variety Preferred Pronoun?: He, Sir, Bro, TD, Stevin Relationship Status: On occasion Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 1,165 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,428 Thanked 1,125 Times in 311 Posts Rep Power: 3570340	Ya know, in the 50's it woulda been a big ole hoopla. The closest I ever came to even hinting at possibly being different was when I announced, at around the age of 6 or 7, that I was NOT having kids, ever! Which I did not. I did however realize in about 1st grade that something was very different for me. I wasn't like the other kids and I knew it. It took me 50+ years to do something about it.... times, they are very different now! Many kudos to your daughter!! __________________ “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

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