🍑CUTE BOTTLES & CUPS🍑

books with nonbinary and/or "they/them" characters

this is mostly directed at @the-closet-case but i hope it can help other people too!

books with they/them narrators

- "I Wish You All The Best", Mason Deaver

- "River Of Teeth", Sarah Gailey (there's multiple narrators in this one, one of them uses they/them)

- "Can't Take That Away", Steven Salvatore (main character switches between he/she/they.)

- "No Man of Woman Born", Ana Mardoll. (This one is a short story collection which includes a he/she/they genderfluid person, a xe/xem person, and multiple other trans folks. also, an aro character and a bi one!)

books with major characters who use they/them, exclusively or not

- "Spellhacker", MK England (the love interest is nonbinary and uses they/them)

- "The Heartbreak Bakery", A.R. Capetta (the love interest uses he/they pronouns; the narrator uses no pronouns.)

- Also, bonus: not as major but "A Dark and Hollow Star" by Ashley Shuttleworth has a genderfluid side character who uses they/them.

books with nonbinary characters that don't use they/them

- "Meet Cute Diary", Emery Lee. The love interest uses ey/em pronouns (or maybe e/em, i can't quite remember)

- "Good Omens", Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. Crowley and Aziriphale both use he/him but are referred to as having no gender.

~

I'll add more later, I'm really tired right now and am having difficulty recalling books to add.

Adorable Persimmon Plush

Snail Plush Sewing Patterns // Choly Knight

Tips for working with children?

1. Don't lie to them if you can avoid it. Water down truths at your discretion, but if you try to lie outright, a good number of them are probably going to pick up on your weird energy and figure you're hiding something. This will very likely come off as "adult who doesn't think we're real people", which is how you promote rebellion.

2. Listen to the problems they come to you with. Imagine they were your problems. If Brůnden at work stole all your pens and ignored your requests to leave you be, you'd be pretty pissed if your manager told you to "just use your nice words" or "let him get bored". Decide what you would want an adult to do, and form a reasonable response.

3. Let some of your weird (child appropriate) interests show. Odds are, when they see your passion, they'll take interest. I accidentally wound up teaching an intro to animal biology to a group of first graders in my after school program this way, and it became what they knew me for. Great for bonding, teaching, and bartering for completed chores.

4. Learn about things they're interested in, but don't force it into things. It'll help you understand what you overhear, and pitch in at the right moment.

5. Treats and stickers. They work on adults, and they work on kids. Make them take a little bit of effort to earn, but also pick special occasions where everyone gets one free. Once you get a better idea of their personalities, lives, strengths, and weaknesses, you can tailor this for personal growth.

6. Acknowledge their feelings. Verbally affirm that they are upset, they are frustrated, they are angry or sad, and encourage them to explain why, and work to find acceptable solutions. Staying perfectly calm and happy while they're angry might help to a point, but ignoring their obvious feelings will make them feel that you don't care or understand, which will make things worse. A lot of kids have a hard time figuring out how adults feel, and why, so empathy will need to be clearer.

7. Play with them on their own level. When you play a game they started on their own, follow their rules, and if you can't, explain why. Expect a few of them to try and mess with you. You're not as distant or alien if you can fall for the same things they do, or admit when you've been outsmarted or outclassed. Be aware that some rules may change at random, and don't go all out on winning.

8. Be honest in ways other adults won't be. When telling a personal story, mention offhand that you didn't like someone, or someone was mean for no reason, or another adult was rude or broke rules, they'll see that you think and feel in similar ways as them, and it can reinforce that yeah, sometimes life is unfair, no, growing up doesn't numb your personality, and no, you don't have to feel happy and positive and pleasant all the time. Sometimes things just suck, and you need to handle it maturely. It's acting on bad feelings that's bad, not the bad feelings themselves. And hey, sometimes adults ARE mean or rude or wrong! They're not crazy or dumb when they notice!

9. Literally just be yourself. Curb any cursing or inappropriate subject matter, but otherwise, they'll recognize that you're an individual with your own personality, and either they'll like you or they won't. Either way, they'll decide how to act from there. Kids are mostly just distilled adults with social restrictions, they can adapt to a lot.

super cute keycaps!

🐟 koi keycaps

🍵 matcha kitty keycaps

🥟 steamed dumpling keycaps

🌵 succulent keycaps

🥮 mooncake keycaps

🔮 big crystal keycaps

🍵 green tea keycaps

🥮 mooncake keycaps

🍔 cat hamburger keycaps

🍣 sushi keycaps

Silk Moth Collar Clips // Tarnavskaya on Etsy

Creative & DIY

If you all haven't heard about it yet: https://ratethelandlord.org/

The sign of high quality is the fact the book was banned by the government. Trash literature NEVER EVER had any troubles with the law.

holy shit