Supporting Gender Expression and Exploration

On this episode: Zak, Jamilah, and Elizabeth advise a parent whose first grader got mad at her for looking up ‘girl sweaters’ online. The first grader has also previously said that they want to be a boy, not a girl. Our letter writer wants to be supportive but doesn’t know if she should go all-in or sit back and let her kid reveal who they are. 

Additional resources: 

The Center

How to Be a Girl 

Supporting My Nonbinary Teen (Part one of ‘Teen Talk’) 

We also have an exciting update from the listener who couldn’t handle the seat-belt war and occasionally let them drive unbuckled. 

Recommendations: 

Jamilah recommends chicken with miso caramelized apples, based on this pork chop recipe. 

Elizabeth recommends Dot to Dot In the Sky: Stories of the Aurora by Joan Marie Galat

Zak recommends this Naomi Fisher Twitter thread on child development

Join us on Facebook and email us at momanddad@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. 

Podcast produced by Rosemary Belson and Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola.

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