I feel like we are confusing children with people that have actual gender identity issues.
My 5 year old can decide what her favorite color is, much less what gender she wants to be the rest of her life.
My 5 year old can decide what her favorite color is, much less what gender she wants to be the rest of her life.
> My 5 year old can decide what her favorite color is,
> much less what gender she wants to be the rest of her
> life.
There have been cases of children and young teenagers who have such beliefs, and then change their minds when they're adults. This may not be the norm, but I think it's important that children and teenagers don't undergo irreversible transition treatment. Thankfully, I believe there are many reversible treatments, like puberty blockers.
My wife realized this child was a transgender, very probably earlier than their parents. She saw it clearly in the behaviour, preferences, movements. Is not that someone asked the child about it, but that the child acts and strongly feels so.
I'm admittedly skeptical about a 9 year old being trans.
They most likely had a slight suspicion, which has been amplified in their memory. They may also have had similar suspicions about other children, which have been forgotten after they came to nothing.
The parent in this article did the humane, considerate, and respectful thing in accepting Tom's decision, not only in the moment that the decision was made, but also in perpetuity. And if Tom were to make a different decision in the future, I think the lesson his mother would learn (has already learned) was that she would love him regardless.
There are so many ways that young kids can identify strong characteristics, even at 5 years old. I can't guarantee they won't change (although my kids haven't changed as far as I can recall).
The first incident I remember (while not gender related) was my son when he was 6 months old. He HATED scratchy fabric from the scarf from a bear. We had to cut the scarf and the tag off this bear. Over a decade later, he still has that same fussiness with fabrics. This tells me that some preferences are there from a very young age.
I could very well imagine some kids feeling at odds with their birth gender from a very young age.
And my 5-year-old used to like raw lemons. This tells me some preferences change from a very young age. What is your point?
But why are you assuming it's necessarily the rest of the child's life?
The whole point of the current legal and medical structure using hormone blockers is to delay actually-permanent decisions to the point where (a) the child is legally competent to make a life decision like that and (b) the child has shown to the satisfaction of parents and medical professionals that they won't regret the decision.