Mother’s inspiring poem to 8-year-old trans daughter (VIDEO)
Paddy McGuire was five years old when her mother realised she was trans.
Lorna McGuire says she realised her daughter was “different” from an early age.
Although she originally thought Paddy would grow out her interest in girl’s clothing, Lorna says it took allowing her daughter to “be herself” to make her realise Paddy’s behaviour was more than “just a phase”.
“At two years old she was walking round with necklaces and handbags, with towels on her head pretending she had long hair,” Lorna told BuzzFeed
“She bugged me for two years from the age of three to buy her a dress.”
Lorna says as soon as she allowed Paddy tried on the dress, she knew that her daughter was trans.
“As soon as she put the dress on that’s when I knew,” Lorna said.
“It was a eureka moment. A light bulb went on. As soon as she had the dress on and I saw her face, tears came down my eyes and I knew,” she added.
“Her face lit up. She was so happy, I’ve never seen her so happy in all my life.”
To show her support and acceptance of her daughter, Lorna then wrote her a beautiful poem about a caterpillar becoming a butterfly to help them both come to terms with the change.
She says she wrote the poem to “make sense of my feelings and the whole situation, and to put them down on paper”.
The poem reads:
I had a little caterpillar, small, cute and blue
He reminded me so much of you
I loved him and fed him, tended his every need
But he wanted to change
I had to follow his lead
I loved and supported still wondering why
‘Til the day my boy said goodbye
You spun your silk all round your shell
You wove your web and said your spell
The inside of your soul shone out
And the real you came about
I was amazed, what else could I think?
No longer a shy boy whose heart would sink
But a beautiful butterfly, loud, proud and pink
Sometimes I miss my caterpillar boy
But my butterfly girl fills my heart with joy
Paddy – who is now eight – says she always knew she wanted to be a girl.
Lorna says she wants to support others going through a similar experience – sharing her story in a recent documentary film on Channel 4 called My Transgender Kid.
“Just love your child the same, no matter what, and accept your child,” Lorna said.
“They’ll be much happier in the gender they are in their mind than they are in their body.”
