JODY PATERSON IS like any mother of five children – she frets over what to feed the kids and how to pay for school in her Brooklyn home.
However, the family has one difference – 8-year-old Penelope identifies as a boy.
“Nell is my third child and, we assumed girl, anatomically perfectly a girl.
“Really early on, there were signs that Penel was different, something was weighing on Penelope very heavily.”
Jody says that Penelope had “intense reactions” to any attempts to dress him in girls clothes.
“I pulled Penelope aside and asked what was wrong and Penelope said “because everyone thinks I’m a girl”.
“He said “mom, I don’t feel like a boy, I am a boy”.”
The Cosmopolitan documentary shows the family’s acceptance of Penelope’s identity and shows Jody discussing how her family came to terms with Penelope’s identity.
She says that the family discuss trans issues openly, but that she worries about puberty, when Penelope’s body will undergo changes that will be hugely different from how he identifies.
She adds that having a transgender child has taught her two things:
Winners are losers that got back up and accept happiness in any form. Who am I to say how happiness looks or feels?
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