Transgender Child - Aged 4

[jilldavidson5]

Children vary a great deal in how insistent and persistent they are in claiming an unexpected gender identity. They also vary a great deal in how extreme they are in identifying as one gender. While we typically don't allow 4 year olds to make many life-altering decisions, understand that nearly all 4 year olds are pretty adamant about their gender, and this is resistant to change. This is not a problem for most families when the child's gender expression fits in with expectations, but there is distress when it doesn't fit expectations. Gender is extremely personal, and very basic to how we define ourselves, and how others define us.

As long as changes are reversible, there is not a problem for the child to live as they wish - e.g., a girl having a boy's haircut

For children who claim an unexpected gender identity (e.g., male-assigned at birth claiming they are a girl), most of those doing so under the age of 9 will change their minds and identify with their birth gender. Nearly all children age 11 and older who claim an unexpected gender identity will persist in identifying as the "opposite" gender into adulthood. These children are at high risk of suicide as puberty approaches without intervention; they are also at high risk of being assaulted by their family and kicked out of the family home (at least in the USA, where I am). We're just beginning to understand differences between children who persist and those who do not.

I was a transgender child; I was born male, and am now living very happily as a woman, with a good job as a school psychologist, and I am well loved by my family, colleagues, and the families I work with.

 

[Tasha]

Children vary a great deal in how insistent and persistent they are in claiming an unexpected gender identity. They also vary a great deal in how extreme they are in identifying as one gender. While we typically don't allow 4 year olds to make many life-altering decisions, understand that nearly all 4 year olds are pretty adamant about their gender, and this is resistant to change. This is not a problem for most families when the child's gender expression fits in with expectations, but there is distress when it doesn't fit expectations. Gender is extremely personal, and very basic to how we define ourselves, and how others define us.

As long as changes are reversible, there is not a problem for the child to live as they wish - e.g., a girl having a boy's haircut

For children who claim an unexpected gender identity (e.g., male-assigned at birth claiming they are a girl), most of those doing so under the age of 9 will change their minds and identify with their birth gender. Nearly all children age 11 and older who claim an unexpected gender identity will persist in identifying as the "opposite" gender into adulthood. These children are at high risk of suicide as puberty approaches without intervention; they are also at high risk of being assaulted by their family and kicked out of the family home (at least in the USA, where I am). We're just beginning to understand differences between children who persist and those who do not.

I was a transgender child; I was born male, and am now living very happily as a woman, with a good job as a school psychologist, and I am well loved by my family, colleagues, and the families I work with.

Thank you for sharing your experience, and more facts about gender identity disorder. It is very interesting.