How old should kids be before teaching them sex vs gender?

[Anonymous]

I know little kids don't know better, but in large gatherings when they have no filter it can be extremely awkward if I'm misgendered. How should I handle this?

[Anonymous]

About 2 or 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know little kids don't know better, but in large gatherings when they have no filter it can be extremely awkward if I'm misgendered. How should I handle this?

"oh hey I'm Mr Jones actually!" or "oh I'm just Jones, no Mr or Mrs!"

Kids will be like "ok" and move along. Kids don't care, only adults do. I say, you do you and don't be afraid to just be politely like "oh my words are she/her!" or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know little kids don't know better, but in large gatherings when they have no filter it can be extremely awkward if I'm misgendered. How should I handle this?

As soon as they’re old enough to speak they’re old enough to be corrected. You can either delicately (on not, that’s how I deal with older kids) tell them the difference. If by 5 they are wrong it’s due to their parents pushing down outdated, harmful messaging and the kids deserve enlightenment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know little kids don't know better, but in large gatherings when they have no filter it can be extremely awkward if I'm misgendered. How should I handle this?

As soon as they’re old enough to speak they’re old enough to be corrected. You can either delicately (on not, that’s how I deal with older kids) tell them the difference. If by 5 they are wrong it’s due to their parents pushing down outdated, harmful messaging and the kids deserve enlightenment.

Kindness goes a long way. Assume good intent, especially with kids.

[Anonymous]

Are you running into transgender people frequently or is it coming up because of the news?

[Anonymous]

IMO, preschool age. But I also think this is perhaps a valid exception to the general rule that a minority shouldn’t have to educate one in the majority. In this case I think you should educate and answer questions that they ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know little kids don't know better, but in large gatherings when they have no filter it can be extremely awkward if I'm misgendered. How should I handle this?

"oh hey I'm Mr Jones actually!" or "oh I'm just Jones, no Mr or Mrs!"

Kids will be like "ok" and move along. Kids don't care, only adults do. I say, you do you and don't be afraid to just be politely like "oh my words are she/her!" or whatever.

+1 kids just go with the flow at a young age if told what a specific person's name, pronouns, title etc is.

I would have an abstract discussion (like it's framed in the OP title) with as young a child though.

[Anonymous]

If they’re your children whenever you want. If they aren’t your children then speak to their parents privately. They may not want to discuss this with their children and you should respect that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know little kids don't know better, but in large gatherings when they have no filter it can be extremely awkward if I'm misgendered. How should I handle this?

"oh hey I'm Mr Jones actually!" or "oh I'm just Jones, no Mr or Mrs!"

Kids will be like "ok" and move along. Kids don't care, only adults do. I say, you do you and don't be afraid to just be politely like "oh my words are she/her!" or whatever.

I like and agree with this, but I encourage you to have patience if they still get it wrong. I have an autistic kid that doesn’t come across as autistic, and one of his challenges is using the correct pronouns. He was just using them interchangeably, so we had to teach him to match how a person identifies, but the black/white thinking that goes with autism has made it really hard for him to correctly gender long haired men for example. It’s a work in progress…

[Anonymous]

It can be super super early but may have to be super simplified ("feel like an X" language).