• You can start talking to your very small baby, and you can tell them everything! Tell them about the things you will have to learn together and about the unknown journey you are all on. Tell them you need to practice how to tell their story, so you’re starting now. The more you talk the more fluent you will become, and the more you will work out what information you may need some support with.
  • Share basic information about bodies, ‘look around you, what is the same and what is different?’ (height, eye colour, hair, able/disabled bodies, colour, size etc). Use children’s books and child friendly science books. Spend some time in the library or in the bookshop’s children’s department.
  • Introduce basic information about sex characteristics, e.g. how hormones do lots of things in the body, and how they are like little messengers that can make bodies grow. They can also make you feel angry and they can make you hungry. Talk about genitals and use whatever words you feel comfortable with. By talking about genitals when they are little you will make it easier for you both to talk about genital difference as they grow up.
  • Talk to them about building families. Encourage them to look around your community and talk about the differences in families you both know. Explain that those grown-ups who decide they want to have children can look at lots of different alternatives (adoption, fostering, etc). Try and find examples they can relate to so it becomes more than just words.
  • Feeling good about yourself and feeling happy in your own skin is a goal for most people. There are lovely children’s books where the main character feels like the odd one out but at the end of the book everyone celebrates the character for being kinder, and wiser, and faster, and a better dancer than anyone else (Giraffes can’t dance!! Elmer the Elephant). We have created a list of helpful books for you to use here. 
  • Teach a child it is ‘their body’. They are learning about their body so that later they can be in charge of it and look after it. Children can know anything about their bodies if you tell them in a simplified and gentle way.
  • Whilst kids are young they are less self-conscious and this is the ideal time for you try to meet other families and children. This will make a tremendous difference as they grow up helping them to know they aren’t alone with their own different private concerns. As they grow up it will help them practice talking about how they feel and what they do or don’t want to say to their friends etc.