What if instead of frogs, snails and puppy dog tails, you ended up with a son who was made of something entirely unexpected?
American mum Lori Duron started blogging anonymously two years ago to make sense of her confusion over a son who didn’t fit the mould; at least not the traditional male one. She describes her second son C.J. as “gender variant or gender non-conforming or gender-creative or has gender-identity disorder, whichever you prefer.” Her son just says he’s “a boy who likes girl stuff and wants to be treated like a girl.”
Now she’s coming out of the blogging closet, and sharing the book she wrote about coming to terms with a son whose sex does not align with his gender. In an excerpt from Raising My Rainbow on Today.com, she admits that seeing her boy’s predilection for Barbies and pink used to make her anxious, and she’s not proud of how she handled his uniqueness at first.
But over time, she’s come to realise C.J. doesn’t have a problem; it’s the world that insists on putting kids into narrow definitions of what it means to be male or female.
She’s also educated herself by speaking to experts and connecting with the LGBT community, and now aims to support C.J. no matter what, and help other parents in her situation do the same. She’s got some famous friends helping; Neil Patrick Harris and David Burkta, dads to twins Gideon and Harper, wrote the forward.
The more everyone talks about these issues, the easier it will be to help all kids grow up to be proud of who they are.
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