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We live in a culture that loves to celebrate gender in all its forms. Many mothers find that friends, family, and even strangers are interested in the gender of their children. This interest is expressed early and often to new mothers. For pregnant women two of the most common questions that are asked of them include “When are you due?”, and “Are you expecting a boy or girl?”.
For mothers of older children, this fascination is found in stranger’s assumptions around their children’s gender based on the colors they wear or the toys they play with. Mothers of children of all ages have to find ways to navigate the expectations of others around gender and gender expression.
There are two ways that gender can cause stress in your home with your kids. First of all, if you are expecting a new baby, your older siblings may be upset about the changes that will happen in your family with the new baby. They may act out and shows signs that they are worried about being replaced and not getting enough attention from you. The other way that gender can be a pain point in your family is if your children are struggling with their own gender identity. Sadly, trying to figure out one’s sexual preferences and gender can lead to mental health issues like anxiety and depression because kids don’t know how their family and peers will react.
While both of these cases cause tension in the household, there are positive ways to address your children’s concerns, whether they are worried about a new sibling joining the family or their own gender preferences.
Ways To Celebrate Gender
In this environment, many new moms choose to have gender celebrations and gender reveal parties as a way to communicate information about their children. There is no one correct way to celebrate gender and there are gender reveal ideas for every taste, interest, and personality. These celebrations can be fun ways to build connection and community and provide mothers-to-be a sense of being part of a wider supportive community and not alone in their struggles. Building these support networks will mean these women will be able to better thrive and better raise up healthy and happy children. This is what all mothers hope for.
Revealing your baby’s gender in a fun way will also help ease your older children’s concerns. Involve them in the planning of the gender reveal so that they feel part of this special event in your family. Let them help decide how the reveal will happen and what theme you will use. The more ownership that they have with regard to announcing their new sibling to family and friends, the more they will feel a connection to their new baby sister or brother.
Gender reveal celebrations are not limited to babies and young children. These celebrations are also great for celebrating older children who have come to a new awareness around their own gender and gender expression. For example, if a child is a car enthusiast they might like a gender reveal burnout, if they love baking they might like a gender revealing cake, or if they love science a gender revealing science experiment. In all these cases the children themselves can have a say in how they would like to celebrate their own gender. Giving children a say in how they are celebrated is one way you can empower your children to be their best selves.
How Celebrating Helps
Gender reveal celebrations are a great opportunity to talk with older children about gender. These celebrations provide opportunities for children to express their own questions in a healthy way. In this way, these celebrations can help support the holistic child development of your children by strengthening their personal growth and social skills. What better way to do this than creating an event or celebration to make children know they are loved and cared for?
In addition, these gender celebrations can have extra meaningful significance for young adults. Today there are countless inspiring and love-filled gender celebration stories from around the world. When parents hold gender announcement events this can have a major impact on their children and on those who they love. Everyone loves a good excuse for a party. Celebrating your children’s achievements with your wider community will have positive effects on more people in your circle of friends and family then you could imagine.
It doesn’t matter if you are recently pregnant, a parent to young children, or your children are all grown up, a gender reveal can be an important milestone to celebrate. In addition, these celebrations can become very meaningful for everyone involved, as they provide a sense of love, understanding, and caring.
How has your family celebrated gender?
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