How old should kids be when they transition to transgender?

Question

I m doing some research for a college assignment, and I found this article about an 11 year old transgender child. Meaning they were born male but transitioned to and pass as female. Can we classify someone that young as transgender when they could be simply exploring and don t know themselves? Is the transgender spectrum wide enough that we can classify anyone curious about the lifestyles of the opposite sex "transgender?" Heck, when I was 11 I stuffed dodgeballs in my shirt and pretended I was female, but you don t see me coming out as transgender. What s the bar? When are kids old enough to make these decisions for themselves? When are they not? Thank you so much.

Answer 1

No. Children under 16 in many places are not considered old enough to grasp the consequences of changing their body when it might be permanent. I believe there was also a study in Sweden surveying transgender children which concluded that many children saying they were transgender literally grew out of it by the time they were 16. So no. They are not old enough and I consider it child abuse if adults let them get hormones.

Answer 2

Whenever they feel comfortable to do so. If they are minors than whatever parents feel comfortable to let their child to transition. There’s no age limit when they can transition. As long as it makes them happy that’s all it matters

Answer 3

OK. When did you know that you are a boy? Serious question. You might not have stood up and declared "I am a boy" to the world, but you sought out male friends to play with. You played boy games. You talked about sports, TV programs, etc. that other boys do. You maybe even looked up to your father and wanted to be just like him. You might find that you started doing these things quite young, perhaps three or four.



Now lets say that you have your boy body, but at an early age gravitated towards the girls. Everything that they talked about seemed more interesting to you than the boys. You liked the games they played, the clothes they wear and the things that they do. Boys, you just don't get. You might not stand up and say "I am a girl" but you will know that you don't fit in with the boys, but you prefer the girls. You might discover you were meant to be a girl quite early, or you might have trouble joining the dots until a bit later.



Transition to transgender? Nope. Transition and transgender share the word trans. Think transport, or similar words. They are about moving. So you start as a boy, but the end destination will be girl. So transition is the state in between while you are moving from one state to another.



So lets say that you are 5 and declare that you should be a girl. OK. Putting on a dress does not really effect anything, other than how you present yourself to the world and how people treat you. This is a good time to seek counseling. Having the advice of a medical professional is a good step. The difficulty comes with puberty. So the best thing that you can do is to stop puberty until the child is old enough to understand a bit more about what is involved. T blockers are a great way of taking the pressure off. Delay puberty. In this manner, if the boy decides to stay a boy, just stop taking the Spiro. Puberty restarts where it left off. No harm no foul.



In most countries, although T blockers can be taken early on, hormones are not on the table until the age of 16 and surgery would not be an option until 18. This is UK, but I would imagine a similar scenario for the US.



You might find these useful:



https://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/28851.asp



https://uktrans.info/attachments/article/5/trasngender_booklet_low%20res.pdf



https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/gender-development-service-children-adolescents.pdf



https://www.wpath.org/



http://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/



Luck

Answer 4

When a child is insistent, persistent, and consistent with their transgender identity, and demonstrate that long enough to satisfy their therapist, then it could be acceptable for that child to under go a social transition. This could happen at an early age of five years old is some rare cases. Transsexual people are born that way. The age of their diagnosis is dependent on many factors. A merely 'curious' child, such as yourself, would not even come close enough to the "bar" to warrant such a diagnosis. One last thing, it is NOT a 'decision', rather it is a discovery.

Answer 5

They need to be 14-16 at the very youngest.



Altering the natural course of puberty can forever destroy their endocrine system.

Teens know more about themselves than grade school kids. If I were part of some parenting counsel (HA~) then I'd still be very careful. Just wouldn't tell parents to encourage this, but it's theirs so it's not like I can stop them



~Aizen

Answer 6

Depends how far you're going with it. Allowing your child to change their name and cut their hair isn't going to harm them..

Answer 7

To get better info, call the gay center and ask for a contact number or person in the trans support group. They should be able to get you the latest info.

Answer 8

.......good old BIll Nye (the Science Guy) preaches that before age 5 we should have asked our kids to think about what gender they'd like to be, them help them implement their choice.



Perverts will do anything for a buck and to get their jollies screwing-up kids.

Answer 9

Truly- people who identify as transgender have elevated levels of childhood trauma, and other mental illnesses, like eating and personality disorders.



Mental healthcare should be free.

Answer 10

Nobody should ever be allowed to practice this ridiculous perversion. It is a mental illness and perverts who agree with it should be sectioned.

Answer 11

The minute they are born. If they are born with a penis, cut it off.

Answer 12

Transgender is a congenital condition. Developed before birth.