My carrot son and Rosie daughter

"They were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide"

Well actually Ms Theron, when your child is only 3 years old you do have to take decisions on their behalf.
And deciding, at 3 years old, that their gender is not the one they were born with is not a good decision.

Last sentence should read
'Deciding, at 3 years old that it's ok for them to identify as a different gender from the one they were assigned at birth, is not a good decision'

No...none of my AC, GC or GGC have yet deviated or shown any inclination to deviate from the sex they were born as, nor have any of them decided to dress in the clothing traditionally worn by the opposite sex. None of them use other names either.
All simply were and are 'traditional' children/adults.

Yes, my eldest daughter decided at the age of 4 that her name was Pamela, and like your daughter refused to answer to her own name. It was also around this time that we were no longer called Mummy & Daddy but used our Christian names when she addressed us.....we found it amusing and didn’t react....like your daughter she soon went back to using her own name and again we became Mummy & Daddy. Let children be children.

My elder son was called 'Pullis' for a while, no idea where it came from but we dutifully called him Pullis until one day he decided he wanted his real name back.

I believe very little I read in the press, so it didn't surprise me to read she is not actually 'raising her boy as a girl' (no doubt the reporter felt this made a better story) but has made it clear she will support them whoever they are.

I don't quite know how one 'raises a boy as a girl' anyway, that sounds too much like coercion, something this lady is determined not too.

My sons had dolls and trains played with both.

We had a dressing up box and if I didn't value my life so much I could show you a photo of my younger boy (now 6ft 7 and a weight lifter) along with his friend, in lacy nighties and shawls, earring and beads about their necks. They would be 6 or 7 .

If either boy had wanted a dress I would have bought one and when they were old enough to truly understand I told them their sexual orientation, whatever it was or turned out to be would be fine with me.

I had heard so many horror stories of boys with AIDS being rejected by their families (how could anyone DO that?) I was determined mine would always be sure of my unconditional love and support.

We were talking about this today. DGS3 would only answer to Sam (as in Fireman) and the rest of the family were other members of the TV programme. He has grown out of it.

One of my daughters would only answer to Bright Light for a while, heaven knows where that came from. I have photos of my son dressed in princess outfits, my grandson, age six, had a doll for Christmas.
These are all aspects of childhood, my son, as far as I know, no longer dresses up as Cinderella, though if he wants to, I don’t really mind. But the point being is that, children are to some extent gender neutral, but they generally find their own path, without our help

I think there are children who decide they are not of the gender they are born with and sympathetic understanding is needed . It is when the fleeting ideas as mentioned byGA ,are taken up by the adults and emphasised that problems arise .
One of my girls had an invisible friend , we knew she would lose the friend so didn't go to extremes with it , she has no memory of it now
Now ducking out of view !

I had an imaginary fried, he was called Willy, I think my mum was horribly embarrassed by the whole thing!

It seems often children's phases are taken far too seriously and should be allowed to run their course as other posters have said. Time will tell if there is an underlying reason.

Love your imaginary friend Sara .

I absolutely adored Tony Hancock and his humour in my youth and my sister started calling me Tub TH’s nickname. I am now 72 and she still calls me Tub ?

I was a tomboy and preferred climbing trees to playing with dolls and refused to wear a dress. If anyone had asked me I’d have said I wanted to be a boy. Puberty ended that phase and I was more than happy to be a girl. These days I’d be off to the transgender clinic to be reassigned. Children change and parents shouldn’t give in to their child’s every demand. A three year old isn’t able to make life long decisions.

More mainstream ordinary family life with all of our lot, from 2y to 86y.
❤️

My DGD2 was a horse for a few months at about 3-3.5. She galloped everywhere and neighed rather well. She rides like the wind nowerdays but she is definitely a normal girl.

I was a very lonely child and had an imaginary friend called Mrs Kershaw . I talked to her constantly and saved spaces for her next to me. I would scream if someone sat on her. I can still picture her with her white fluffy hair, pearls and handbag.

My 13 year old GS has only just recently decided to change his online name from 'John' to a shortened version of his actual name.No idea where the 'John' came from.

That post has no connection whatsoever to the message in the OP.

My DGD 1 has an older sister. He liked nothing better than to wear her pink fluffy jumper when he went out with his mum. When he started school he was somewhat disappointed that he had to wear trousers at school and not a skirt.
He's 10 now and wouldn't dream of wearing his sister's clothes.
It's all part of childhood and growing up.

Grandson 1.

Do you know, I’d forgotten that, from age five to seven my daughter was a dog!

My two kept badgering me to call them by different names when they were little and refused to answer to their given names. So one day I called them by their new names. They were delighted at first, but by late afternoon they had seriously had enough and were pleading with me to call them by their real names again. They never asked to change their names again.

My 4 year old granddaughter is, by turns, a cat, a dog, a horse, or a unicorn. When she's being a cat or dog she wants to eat her food on the floor in a bowl, only using her mouth. To her intense annoyance, her mum doesn't allow it

Mrs Kershaw sounds an unusual choice of imaginary friend, I think my friend Willy was loosely based on Willy from the Woodentops! I left him in the greengrocers once, and I made such a dreadful fuss, we had to go back into town to get him!

Yes I know Sara65 I have posted about her on GN before and no one in the family has a clue where it came from. In my mind I can still “see and hear her” to this very day .

Obviously something/someone we needed at the time gillybob, I too remember Willy quite clearly

One of my son's asked me in all seriousness when he would grow a mane. We had a variety of special friends, including one who lived on their finger and one called Middle.

I can remember that feeling of turning into something such as the wind or a horse as a child. Occasionly it returns.