Gender Identity

I was a young mother when I had my children.  I had my oldest daughter first, then my son, and then my younger daughter.   They are all 18 months apart.  As they were so close in age, I would often bathe them together.  At that young age, the three of them noticed a difference between my son's body and their own.  I taught them the correct anatomical names, penis and vagina.  At this point, the three kids knew that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.  I provided the first education on gender in my own home.  As this was almost 20 years ago, there was no conversation that existed about gender identity and personal pronouns. 

I am now a school nurse in a public elementary school.  I work in conjunction with the health teachers to educate fourth and fifth grade boys and girls about puberty.  Currently the puberty lesson is one video with a short question/answer upon completion.  We send out permission slips to the families and students cannot attend the class without returning the signed consent.  We separate the boys and girls and then provide education based upon their age (4th/5th) grade.  The video describes some differences between boys and girls, however each video differs depending upon the gender of the students.  The boys video is more focused on boys and the same with the girls.  Over the last couple of years, an increasing number of students have expressed concern over which group lesson to attend as they are unsure of their gender identity.  There has been increased communication and professional development courses on gender identity and ways to help those students experiencing ranges of emotions secondary to confusion on their gender identity.  I have also heard that there is a push to keep boys and girls together during puberty classes to eliminate discrimination.  

The YouTube video and the book read aloud is intended for a younger audience.  In my opinion, this can create confusion in our younger students.  Some of these younger students have not been educated on the anatomy of males and females.  How are they being taught the absences of male and female when they don't understand the differences?    

At the 4th and 5th grade level, these students are developing and experiencing a wide range of emotions secondary to changes in hormones.  These students are learning about gender identity and the use of pronouns.  I had a discussion with a 5th grade student who was unsure of their identity.  I explained to them that this is a time of great change within their body and that these next few years were important toward puberty and hormonal growth.  I also let the student know that they did not have to choose their pronoun until they felt comfortable within their own body.   They felt better after the conversation as I told them a decision does not need to be made right away.  

I do not know how gender identity will progress as time moves forward.  I do believe all people should be educated on the physiological and  hormonal differences between males and females.  I believe one can only make their right decision when they possess all of the information necessary to make an identity choice.