Gender Playground

Imperfect Parenting and Loving Repair with Kai Cheng Thom Pt. I

Gender Playground

Show Notes

“A late repair is always better than no repair. Awkward repair is always better than imaginary repair. And an imperfect repair is always better than one that isn't tried at all.”

We are beyond excited, to share with you, our conversation with the brilliant and insightful Kai Cheng Thom. We loved this conversation so much that we felt we had to share the whole thing with you, so this is part 1 of 2! In this episode, we ask Kai Cheng how to address hurt or harm we may have caused a trans or gender non-conforming kid in our life and the possibilities for repair. We chat about the importance of self-reflection for parents when encountering their own gender ghosts, to better accept and love gender non-conformity in ourselves and others. We round off this first part of our conversation thinking about how to embrace being imperfect parents and care-givers as a way to reduce the chance of causing harm and increase success in repair.

Recommendations will be included in the second half of the episode released next week! However, the writer mentioned by Kai Cheng Thom was Diane Ehrensaft and the books referenced were Gender Born, Gender Made and The Gender Creative Child.

All of Kai Cheng Thom’s writing and work can be found at her website kaichengthom.com.

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