Over at Accepting Dad, the news is that there is a new study that has found supportive parenting practices to be good for the mental health of our gender variant children.

He says:

This is what I take from the study; I’m not a scientist and I can’t speak to the statistical analysis, I’m just looking at the text of the study itself:

1. Supportive parenting which acknowledges and accepts a child’s gender non-conformity is good for kids; even when this non-conformity leads to awkward social situations and various degrees of peer disapproval. Taking the good with the bad, supportive parenting is associated with better outcomes than suppressing these behaviors completely ‘for the child’s own good.’
2. Accepting and affirming a child’s impulses and deeply held feelings, while monitoring and limiting a child’s gender expression to lessen a communities negative response works well for the children in this sample.
3. Higher levels of pathology in the Netherlands sample does not invalidate early transition or hormone blocking but it suggests that early social transition and blocking is truly a last resort. Everyone knew this anyway, but for parents who are moving slowly and cautiously and feeling guilty about that, this study would seem to validate this approach.

Sounds good to me!