Uncle Bear's Smile

Little bear had a family who loved them very much. There were lots of people in their family.

Part of this family was Uncle Bear.

Uncle Bear would visit Little Bear whenever they could and loved to play games with Little Bear.

Uncle Bear always looked happy when they visited and always had a smile on their face when spending time with Little Bear. Especially when they told silly jokes, Uncle Bear loved silly jokes.

Little Bear didn’t know that when Uncle Bear went home, their smile went away, and they would be very sad.

This is because even though Uncle Bear looked and sounded like a boy on the outside. Inside they didn’t feel that way. Inside Uncle Bear felt like a girl.

Because of this Uncle Bear was sad all the time, but no one else knew. They didn’t think they could tell anyone how they felt because other bears would say mean things and stop talking to Uncle Bear.

What scared Uncle Bear the most was that they thought if they said how they felt, maybe they wouldn’t be able to visit Little Bear anymore.

Uncle Bear was sad for a very long time.

They would put on a smile and pretend to be happy when others were around. But when they were alone, Uncle Bear’s smile would go away.

All their life Uncle Bear never felt like they fit in with the boys. They wanted to play with the other girls because they felt like a girl inside.

This was scary at times for Uncle Bear. They had to hide how they felt a lot when they were around others, even friends and family.

Uncle Bear was afraid that if they said how they felt inside that they would get into trouble or be sent away, and no one would talk to them anymore.

Uncle Bear got very good at pretending to be happy. Acting the way they thought others wanted and expected them to act. Dressing how others thought Uncle Bear should dress.

Uncle Bear got so good at pretending that sometimes they tricked themselves. This never lasted long though.

Uncle Bear just wanted to be happy and to have their smile back all the time. Not just when they played games and told jokes with Little Bear. Or when Uncle Bear pretended to smile with their friends.

The only time Uncle Bear really smiled was when they visited Little Bear. When Uncle Bear was with friends they put on a pretend smile because they didn’t want to upset anyone.

After a very long time, Uncle Bear decided they didn’t want to be sad anymore. So Uncle Bear went to see Doctor Bear, to see if there was a way to be happy.

Uncle Bear told Doctor Bear how they always felt like a girl inside. Even though they looked like a boy outside. How this made them sad, and they wanted to not be sad anymore.

‘Good news,’ said Doctor Bear.

Doctor Bear told Uncle Bear about a special medicine. If they took it each day, it would help Uncle Bear.

If Uncle Bear takes their special medicine every day, they will feel better inside. Even better, the medicine will actually help Uncle Bear start to look more like a girl on the outside too!

Uncle Bear knew if they decided to take the medicine and live as a girl from now on. Some other bears would stop talking to them, maybe even family. But it was more important that Uncle Bear start to be happy.

When Little Bear saw Uncle Bear next, they saw Uncle Bear was smiling like always. But Uncle Bear was dressed like a girl.

‘I like your pretty dress, Uncle Bear,’ said Little Bear.

‘Thank you Little Bear,’ said Uncle Bear. Their smile was even bigger now.

‘Why are you dressed like that, Uncle Bear?’ asked Little Bear.

Together with Little Bear’s parents, Uncle Bear explained they had been sad for a very long time. But now they had special medicine, it helped them to both feel better and be happy. As well as change how they looked. The medicine helped them look how they felt inside, because inside they felt like a girl, and now they would start to look like one too! Most importantly this made Uncle Bear happy.

Uncle Bear still loves to visit and play games with Little Bear. Nothing changed about Uncle Bear inside, not how much they loved Little Bear. Not even their silly jokes!

Oh! There was one little thing that changed … Now Little Bear calls them Aunty Bear!

And now when Aunty Bear goes home after visiting. Their smile never goes away.

* This is a work in progress and is intended to be a picture book to help explain and discuss gender transition to young children (Under 8 - 10) of uncle/aunt in a helpful and simple way along with their parents. While aiming to keep things gender neutral (so it could be used by anyone) The hope would be that there would be an inverse version (start with Aunty Bear, etc) as that isn’t really neutral.

Putting it here as it may be helpful to someone, even if it’s still in a rough format.