Trans in childcare

[Rorelai]

This year I moved to a larger city after finishing my undergrad, and I've been working at a child care/preschool program for about six months now. Coming from the small town that I used to live in, I would have never believed I could work in this field, and I was definitely worried about the mindsets the parents would have ("how am I going to explain this to my child?"). I pass relatively well, but I was up front with my employer when I was being hired about the fact that I'm a trans woman. Part of this was because some of my clearances still had my dead name on them and I didn't want to have to pay for them again if I don't have to.

 

My coworkers have been super chill, and really just treat me as one of the girls. The admin even said they'd come to bat for me if any of the parents gave me a hard time for being trans. Since I've started I've discovered I really enjoy the work I do, and it's super fulfilling for me to watch the kiddos I work with grow up.

 

I've only had a few negative interactions with parents. Most of the time it boils down to them just not knowing a lot about trans people, or just calling me with masculine pronouns instead of feminine ones. Overall the parents I've worked with really trust me with their kids, and they see that I do good work with them. 

 

As far as the kids themselves go, my gender doesn't really become an issue. The really young ones all just call me Miss Rory. Some of the four and five year olds will sometimes ask me "are you a boy or a girl?" When they do I tell them I'm a girl, and their follow up question is usually "but, why?" I think it's kind of cute the way they ask, and usually I explain that I feel better this way, and I take the chance to ask them why they're a boy/girl. I get a lot of different answers to this, ranging from "because I want to be" to "thats what my parents told me I am". And usually after a minute or two they lose interest and move on to a different game. I think it's really interesting the way these kids see the world, and it gives me a lot of hope for the future. 

[Kelly2509]

I love this story!  It's nice to hear how accepting and supportive your job environment is and you have to love how kids view this stuff these days.  Makes me so hopeful for the future.