school experiences for trans folks

[Soft*Silver]

I started this thread because I didnt see another thread like it. My daughter just graduated and is now a licensed teacher. She secured a summer position teaching a class of 2nd and 3rd graders. She has 10 children. From day one she had a little "boy" who would always go where the girls were suppose to go. If the girls were to go to the tables to eat while the boys were to clean up the last activity, the child would go to the tables to eat. She never corrected him. When she had them line up to use the restrooms he went into the girls line. She asked him if he thought maybe he should be in the boys line and he said, no, because he was a girl. One of the boys piped upm and told "him" to get into the boys line. My daughter told the boy that this child could pick whatever line he wanted to stand in but when it came time to use the bathroom, (and she cleared it with the child before she said this) "he" would use the boys' room.

The child, (lets call him Randy) has a name that can be used for boy or girl. Randy tells my daughter how he knows he is a girl and thanks her for letting her be (note the pronoun change on purpose now..) who she is. My daughter is very comfortable working with her. She is 8 or 9 years old.

My daughter has asked me to ask the trans community what they wish their teachers had done for them when they were kids in school. How were things handled back then and how should they have been handled instead?

I told my daughter that she is giving Randy a safe environment to be who she is, something she might not ever get again in the school system. I told her that it only takes one person, to make a difference in a kid's life. Her impact will last a lifetime for Randy.

So speak up and give me some things I can take back to my daughter...