Transmasc

I'm a dad of a 17 yo trans masc son.

It has been something like 5+ years now since he came out.

Some things I've dealt with, that may or may not be part of your and your family's journey:

I felt loss for awhile. Like, I felt like I had somehow lost the child that I had, and though I'd gained a new son, it was still hard. I felt so guilty. I wanted to be supportive, I didn't understand, but I wanted to be supportive and grieving didn't feel like support. So I did my best to keep that to myself because as he became more himself he became more joyful.

Eventually I realized that I was suddenly seeing a kid I hadn't seen in years, he had been very depressed even self harming at times, but with therapy, and gender affirming care it was like we got the kid we had lost back.

There will be people, especially online, who doubt your story, will openly call you a liar, or in some cases a child abuser.

Our home state, where most of our family lives, started aggressively pursuing legislation to criminalize us and the lengthy and thoughtful process we went through with our sons transition.

He dealt with violent threats from other students at school, to the point where kids threatend him on the school bus with baseball bats, even chasing him from the bus stop.

We moved across the country to try and find safety, even that is not guaranteed.

All that said, you will have moments of joy and moments of sadness in a world that is at best imperfect and at worst actively seeking to harm you and your loved ones.

Our jobs, as parents from my point of view, is to build our kids up and give them the tools and confidence to be successful when we're not there for them anymore. The world will give them plenty of hate and tribulation, we should give them acceptance and love.

Do what you can to protect and accept your kid. Use their name and preferred pronouns. When others have been brought into that circle keep them accountable, don't let them slip. You will see those acting in good faith and in bad, give grace where it's deserved and be prepared to protect your child from people you may have thought you could trust with your life.

Beyond that, remember they're still your kid lol, you're still gonna deal with the same old teenager/parent relationship as usual. Honestly, besides the name change, the only real issues we have come from the outside.