Hi yall its been a minute

[Lilly-Ann]

It's no shocker from previous posts that my wife is OK with me crossdressing, she accepts it and at times loves to play along too.
Over the last few weeks I've personally been struggling with some feelings and thoughts, we have 2 kids and neither know about lilly or so I thought, long story short I found out that our oldest does in fact know somewhat and she made sure to let me know she knew during a parent child disagreement where she made sure to mention seeing me a few times late at night walk threw through house in a skirt.
she's never seen me dress complete Lilly. I've come to accept that she knows and I'm fine with it.
Our youngest child of 6 had never seen me in a skirt before, she's seen me wear shorts with tights, leggings and an occasional blouse, never any makeup or wigs or even skirts,
Well i had been home for a few days with the youngest due to her having a cold, I started to get bored and restless so I busted out an old sewing machine that was my mom's, I hadn't really sewed anything for several years, I open it up,get it all threaded up, youngest walks in ands asks what I'm doing with her mama's sewing machine. I told her I was going to play around with it and see what I can make, youngest was in shock and awww, she hadn't seen her dad ever sit down and use a sewing machine, well ive been trying slowly to introduce the thought of me wearing a skirt, oldest child in the house doesn't care one way or another about gender and clothing, but the youngest she did a little bit, never in our household has our youngest been taught, told what is and isn't OK for boys to wear. But threw media I assume she came to a conclusion boys couldn't wear skirts.
I said I had been struggling a bit in the begining of this post. Ive been struggling with getting my youngest to accept the ideal that her dad can wear a skirt and that there's nothing wrong with that, so I had a brilliant idea in my head to try, I had some old jeans that I didn't wear and decided I was going to make me a skirt using my old jeans, so i though what can she say when she see me use my own jeans she's seen me where, so I flipped, and pinned and cut and stitched for a bit to create a just below the knee skirt, when I was done she asked what it I made, i told her just wait and see, I went to the bathroom changed into my new skirt i sewed up, and stepped out the bathroom where she stood waiting to see what i made. Her jaw dropped and she said "no boys don't where skirts", "what if the boy made it from his own pants?can he wear it then", technically it's not a women's skirt that way. She about had smoke rolling out between her ears on that one, I asked her if I should take it off and she said "no daddy if you wanna wear a skirt you can wear it if you want to, but I don't wanna go to store with with",
All seems meaningless to some and others may not pay any mind to it but getting the kiddos acceptance means something to me, just strike me odd she was so against it when we have never taught or discussed clothes having gender,
I'm happy I don't have to hide wearing a skirt around the house anymore with the kids, just took me having to male a skirt in front of the youngest for her to understand it's OK for guys to wear a skirt

[Diane P]

Lilly as you said tv can be a big influence on young children. I don't think there are any shows on the regular networks that have crossdressers as cast members. It's taken a long time for the lesbian/gay community to get characters into shows and there still aren't a lot. Even then the gay men are wearing men' clothing.

Your best bet might be for you and your wife to sit down with both your daiughters and have a talk with them. That way they hear it from you that it is alright for men to wear skirts. Granted your youngest might say something at school that would end up having them contact you and want to talk.

However you decide to handle things I'm glad you were able to get here to accept the fact that you can at least wear a skirt at home.

[Lilly-Ann]

Diane,
Me and the youngest kiddo had that talk afterwards and I don't feel she will be telling it to her school, she agreed it wouldn't be OK to tell them she said "they'll laugh at me if I tell them my dad wears skirts", then a few minutes later she came back and said "dad please don't pick me up wearing a skirt at school", no worries there child, we live in a conservative area and while its accepted in certain situations in our area. I on the other hand have worked and put myself into a spot in my life that if most folks knew about my other side that likes girly stuff, I would probably loose all respect from them and intern end my career.
It'll be several years I feel before I'm comfortable in lilly-Ann being seen by my kiddos, till then I will keep working on small changes so I don't shock them to much, being able to wear what I would like in my home has been hard but I think eventually it'll not be a concern. The youngest is now fine with seeing her dad wear a skirt and tights(can't wear a skirt with out the basics), T shirt or long sleeve shirt, I refrain from tops at the moment with a skirt, I'm learning there are ways you can wear a skirt, present as a guy and not look femine(where's the fun in that though). I'd say eventually one day I'll be able to be open with them but till then we will keep working on the small things,

[Di]

You will not like my answer.
If you plan on living 24/7 out at work , family and friends.
I understand and agree totally .
If not I find it very selfish of you.
I was not going to say it
But after what you said how she reacted and said to you ……I had to say it .
She is your child you should protect her . Kids are mean and hurtful.
Unless you came out to everyone it in my opinion is wrong of you.
Is it wrong that things are not accepted YES but your first priority should be your child.

[BLUE ORCHID]

AS I was reaing this Thread I was think the same thing as Di,

[char GG]

Your children, your life but also your secret. I do not think you should put the burden of your secret on your child. What’s done is done. But a six year old should not be expected to keep a secret. I would suggest that if she starts exhibiting withdrawal at school, she may need some counseling to talk about her feelings.

[GretchenM]

I'm sorry Lilly, but I whole agree with Di and Char. It is perhaps not the best way to introduce this aspect of you to your 6 year old in this way. It is like forcing it on her with no preparation. It is a bit self centered to do it that way. With such a young child who is probably fairly settled in with the traditional gender binary kind of thinking she might think she has weird daddy and not know what to do about that. Loading her with your secret was not a good idea.

[Erin Lafleur]

Yeah, sorry Lilly I think what you're doing is very selfish. To impose that burden on your six year old child is terribly unfair. You're the adult...

[JulieC]

There's another active thread here titled "How many have been crossdressing before starting a family?" There's differing viewpoints about telling a child.

Lilly, I won't say you're wrong for doing what you did. It's your life, your kids, your family, your choices. It's not a choice I would have made. I think it's an unfair burden to a child to have to be expected to keep daddy's secret. At such tender ages, they lack the framework on which to handle such realities. For my wife and I, we've raised our kids to be open minded. We've exposed them to all sorts of ways of life, and never gave them reason to view anyone as anything other than a full, complete, respected human. For us, that's enough. Some day the kids might be told. For now, no.