Brooke – my college age daughter recently announced that she is transgender. While I love and support my child, I am having trouble switching to using “he” and remembering to use the male name he prefers to be called. I’m getting better at the name but the pronoun is harder to use. He looks and acts exactly the same otherwise. We spent most of Saturday together and it was almost comical how I had to stop and try to remember what to say. I was not smooth.

C: child is transgender
T: I miss what I thought I had. I really liked the name I chose for my child.
F: loss
A: Move on, accept the change
R: not moving on

I feel sad. I’m sure it will be fine in the long run. Right now, I am trying to come up with better-feeling thoughts. Any suggestions?

Thanks