this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
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Parenting

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Brief summary of context. I socially transitioned before he was conceived. His birth mother left me before he was born. I spent 18 months fighting to even meet him. Eventually had things going smoothly with overnight time. Then the birth mother cut contact again. I've only just got to see him in a supervised context.

Near the end of the last session I referred to myself as mummy Eve, as I've done thousands of times in the past without issue. This time he yells that he hates it when I say that. He goes on to say I'm just pretending, I'm not a mummy I'm a he, and he knows I'm a he because I'm wearing a top.

I'm certain he's getting this from his birth mum. I'm devastated, it pushed me closer to giving up than I have been for a while. I don't know if there's anything I can do about it in the two hours a week I have with him. (At least for now)

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[–] Avicenna@programming.dev 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

This issue is probably very confusing for a six year old. It is not fair to expect him to process it easily especially when his birth mother is not on board with it. It seems like professional child psychology help might be useful but that again requires collaboration from the birth mom. So it seems like convincing her is the key.