Gender-Neutral Term for "Daughter"?

[Monroe_C]

So, I'm out to my mom as non-binary and, despite some bumps of misunderstandings here and there, she's been wonderful and supportive about the whole thing. She's still learning and I'm being patient about it. The fact that she's willing to do any of this is all I can ask for at this juncture.

 

One thing we're both kind of stuck on is what she's going to refer to me as in the way of a family title. For now, I'm okay with her continuing to call me her daughter because we can't think of a proper gender-neutral term. Neither of us like "offspring" because that's just way too scientific-sounding and impersonal, and I'm also an adult, so we both feel weird about her calling me her "kid" or "child'.

 

I was just wondering if anyone knows of any other gender-neutral words for someone's daughter or son? I think I could learn to deal with "daughter" because it's not like it comes up very often at all, but I would certainly prefer a different term if one exists.

 

- Monroe

[VickySGV]

I really don't know of gender neutral terms for children, but depending on your family order, first-born or middle birthling or even, eldest, youngest etc. could work.  I prefer the title Grandparent or parent in relation to my grandchildren and my children.  Or better just My Monroe with a smile of love.  Unless you are very young (early teen) just introduce you by name and use the family relation descriptor "on demand" or "need to know".  I let my descendants simply call introduce me by Vicky and let me supply the relation if needed or demanded.  It works.

[Monroe_C]

 

7 minutes ago, VickySGV said:

I really don't know of gender neutral terms for children, but depending on your family order, first-born or middle birthling or even, eldest, youngest etc. could work.

 

Thanks, Vicky

 

I really like the idea of my mom saying, "This is Monroe, my youngest" and just in general referring to me as her youngest. I have an older sister, so that would work really well! I'll talk to her about it

[EvanC]

My youngest child is non-binary, and I also refer to them as "my youngest". They are too old for "my child", but I sometimes use "my teenager". I guess that won't work for you since you are already an adult. I find myself having to get really creative sometimes, and I use just their name a lot more with people who already know them.  My older child will refer to the younger one as his "sibling". 

 

English is very gendered sometimes, more than I realized. It's been a good education for me to think about not being so gendered in my speech. 

[Monroe_C]

15 hours ago, EvanC said:

English is very gendered sometimes, more than I realized. It's been a good education for me to think about not being so gendered in my speech. 

 

Yeah, it definitely is. But, the good thing about language is that it's adaptable and ever-evolving, so I think as more English-speakers start to integrate gender-neutral speech into everyday life, then the concept will slowly become more widely normalized (At least I hope so, anyways). 

[AsTheCrow]

If you asked my mother, she would say I was her child no matter how old I get. Therefore, 'child' seems like a good and reasonable solution to me.

 

That being said, for folks with siblings, I think 'eldest', 'middle', and 'youngest' sound like fantastic options! People with lots of siblings could get specific, with 'second', 'eighth', or whichever ordinal number is appropriate. Nice!