Kid is non-committal about puberty and it's time to decide

My 11.5 year old (she/they) daughter (was assigned male at birth) is in later Tanner stage 2 and we need to decide about blockers. When she was younger, she was much more classically girl ish in her dress and style and is much more nonbinary now. She used only she/her pronouns since first grade and is now she/they and her style is really nonbinary. We have been supportive all along the way. She has two moms, we have trans and gender non-conforming friends and are well-read on the options, the theory etc. The trouble right now is that she "kind of wants estrogen puberty" BUT she doesn't want breasts and doesn't have dysphoria about her genitals. She doesn't want facial hair or a deep voice either. And yet her conviction is not very intense, but she's also not great at talking about her feelings, and frankly doesn't have strong opinions on most things -- she's very go-with-the-flow and flexible. When asked how it would feel if her body started going through testosterone puberty she can describe what would happen but not how she would feel -- like not distressed, fine, scared, annoyed -- nothing and the same for estrogen puberty.

What I want more than anything is her to feel confident, loved, and happy and I will do absolutely anything in my power to support her, but I cannot crawl inside her head and understand what she needs. We are working with a gender clinic and have for several years and she has a social worker there she sees every few months, but a bit more often now and we've met with the doctor to help her understand more too. I've made her a book with celebrities and others from every gender trajectory and presentation to help her understand that puberty and identity have a lot of variety as do adult gender presentations, but she has an 11 yo brain and there are parts she just doesn't understand. She just wants to stay a kid and that's not an option. If she goes on blockers for 2 years, will she really develop more clarity in that time if she's sort of paused at childhood? Anyone else been through something similar and can tell me about your path?

Posted Dec 4, 2025, 9:44 PM UTC

6331
Loading comments…