Parents of 4-year old transgender child - This Morning interview.

Sorry, completely off topic, but relevant to the way parents treat their children, I suppose.

Maths prodigy Ruth Lawrence is now a mother of 4, a maths professor teaching at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. No evidence of tears or unhappy adults.

4 years old is too young for the parents to decide for the child. By all means allow the heshe to dress, play and act as whichever gender they currently prefer. I have seen children reach teens, who remained the gender they chose, reverted to the gender they appeared at birth, or decided they were gay or lesbian.
I have big concerns with the drugs given to children, too young to understand the full effects, which have irreversible effects. I have even bigger concerns with some parents’ need to demonstrate that they are ‘different’ and even to take that as far as taking an 11 boy abroad to be operated on.

One thing is being transgender and an additional one is to transition, to my understanding.

Telling a child they are transgender, instead of just accepting them as the girl/boy they are with their own likes and dislikes, makes it much more likely that the child will grow to believe they need to transition.

I do wonder why we are hearing so much about transgender, is this something that has always been there and swept under the carpet like being gay or are our young people being feed information from the internet? I really don't know, what do other Gransnetters think?

Alergris and on the other hand the boy antiques ‘expert’ whose name totally escapes me and who monica also referred to, is now a woman and had a completely messed up mental health adult life appearing on various TV shows in various stages of breakdowns
Let a child progress which ever way they want without making any issues about it when he or she reaches puberty is the time to see if help and support is needed
One of my granddaughters a real boyish kid played football in a mixed team played as hard as a man, went into boxing built like a boy, scrape her hair back, had no interest in girly things but after puberty has become a complete girl and a real beauty complete with makeup and fantastic hair I wish I could show you a before and after photo ?

mrsgreenfinger, there have been numerous threads on this forum discussing the question you raise. You can find them by asking in the search box above.

The issue of the age at which children begin to feel they’re in the wrong body so far as gender is concerned is contentious. For what it’s worth I find it difficult to believe an 18 month old is able to make that distinction. My now 6 year old grandson spent the period from 3 - 4 dressed as Moana, his favourite Disney character. He’s 6 now and as I’d expect developmentally curious about his gender on so many levels. He has twin uncles, one heterosexual, married with a child. The other twin is gay, married with a child.
My 2 year old grandson loves princesses, loves frozen and wears his 3 year old (female) cousin’s Frozen frock.
None of this is unusual.
Going on the telly to enjoy your 15 minutes of fame whilst exploiting your 4 year old, that’s cruel and unusual. We know much more now about sexual preferences, gender issues than we did 50 years ago. Lets celebrate that and continue to learn, without exploiting our children

Galaxy

This morning should not be allowed to cover issues relating to children they just arent equipped to handle it. A few years ago they gave a platform to a man who had been cleared of shaking his baby, he ran a media campaign to regain custody, he was successful and killed her a year later. Obviously this then gave this morning the opportunity to run a segment on how awful they felt for being duped. Childrens issues are not entertainment for adults and especially by a programme with such a proven record.

I totally agree ??????

Iam64 good post.

I never join in any contentious or political threads. I'm not sure of the rights or wrongs of this topic. However, I watched the interview at the time and thought the mother in particular was enjoying the limelight.

3nanny6,
but it is all completely ok, isn't it, ? your GS wearing a dress and pink hat and liking a doll of a princess.
why do you feel the need to tell him to wear other clothes, or suggest that he should do so because he is a boy.
neither do i think it means he will be gay.
that is another box of assumptions.
i think it is good that nowadays, adults and children can wear pretty much what they like.

I agree too.

With Galaxy I meant.

Ruth Lawrence came through the other side but she did have a long period when she had a lot of problems.

Another facet of this topic:
As we gain more scientific knowledge it is now noted that these anomalies can occur before the baby is born due to raised testosterone from the mother.
Certain medical conditions & the life of the mother can produce more testosterone in the mother creating a change in the presumed normal levels.

Hard though it may be for some, I think we need to get used to these biological facts which imo, boils down to respecting all human beings as individuals, however hard this may be for some people & religions.

I agree it shouldn't be sensationalized, but we should stay informed.
Where as I agree it's not entertainment, GM & GN are both places to open people's minds to what will be an ever increasing occurrence (imo).
I felt HW & PS handled the topic sensitively & appropriately, leaving out their personal opinions - remember PS's recent family changes.
After all, in the entertainment industry trans-gender has been accepted for years.
Having said this, I agree Sparkling Who knows as the years go by what the child will feel? Or what treatments will be deemed acceptable?
Already, for some conditions hormones are given to children. (Turner syndrome is one).

What absolutely dreadful parents to present their child on a public program. That is child abuse in my book.

How could we forget Schofield's family changes Ro60 he drivelled on about it to the whole nation.

We all remember “tomboys” when we were young, I was one of them, identified more with boys toys than girlie things, it was trains, aeroplanes and cars for me, in fact it still is. At around 10 yrs my interests changed to animals, horses and dogs in particular and my caring side developed.
My point is parents really should not put labels on children because you never know how the child will develop, transgender in childhood is going to make them a target for the worst kind of bullying for certain. By all means let them dress in boys style and have boys interests if that makes them happy, but don’t don’t make out they are “different”.

Gosh can’t we/they just love their children and allow them to be children first of all.
Why have they got to be anything other than that yet. Years of development ahead and all around already judgement and naysayers. Seems like another wave of mental health issues coming up rather than well balanced individuals, who can be women, men or whatever they deem is necessary to their happiness in life without causing harm to others.

People who are intersex, having variations in sexual development, are a minute proportion of the population.

Their situation is nothing to do with being transgender.

That is why I am talking about trans-gender. Not physical intersex.

GrannyGravy13

Our two year old GC is adamant they are four.

Lovely!

I can remember when I was young (and I think now still) little girls who wanted to play with boys toys and climb trees etc were called 'tomboys' and boys who wanted to play with dolls were called 'nancies' - very derogatory terms!! Children should be left to develop to be who they want to be whether that be transgender/straight/gay etc etc and be accepted by their families and society, although I think this may be asking too much in the very judgmental world that we live in.

Many years ago I Lived overseas with military and I used to child mind a little boy who loved to dress like a fairy and carry a doll. All other kids didn’t bat an eye lid. I lost touch when I moved back to Britain. His mum found me online because he was getting married and wanted me there. His wife is lovely. My point is he out grew it didn’t have transgender in them days. So I would let a child dress in what they want without given it a name. Kids like to dress up.

In regard of the original poster and now I have watched the link they put up, I am finding it hard to believe that an 18 month old toddler can make the distinction as to what body type they wish to be in. The development and brain growth of the child from birth to 18 months old in my opinion has not even developed enough to know such things. Young children have much to accomplish in reaching the baby milestones let alone saying they are transgender at 18 months old.