Adolescents is a time of trying on new identities and lately we have noticed an uptick in including gender in this identity search. Maybe it's the increased knowledge and awareness in our society regarding the needs and concerns of Transgender people. Or maybe it's not that deep and it's a current trend with teenagers. Only time will tell on this. It has been my experience, it's important to give gender questions some time and breathing room for exploration and process and then most teens return back to their biological gender given this time. I would caution parents to reacting harshly and disapproving of this process as this may make it linger longer than necessary as part of adolescent rebellion and power struggle rather than a true, deep seated problem. Things which can be easily changed, such as clothes and hair are often areas we would encourage allowing your teen to experiment. If you are struggling with this in your family, help is available. Please reach out and get some individual counseling for your teen and family therapy support.
