My 3 year old told me today that when he grows up he wants to be a tiger. And then when he grows up for the second time, he wants to be a dinosaur. And when he grows up for the third time, he is going to be an astronaut.
And after that, he would like to be a girl who likes the colour orange.
3 year olds are not known for their grip on reality. I am no more likely to take the last thing he told me as the gospel as any of the first 3... I do not seriously think he wants to be (or will attempt to become) a tiger or a dinosaur. He may or may not become an astronaut. He cannot ever become a girl, no matter whether he is actually serious in this one or not (he has been saying it for a few weeks - initially it was a reaction to someone telling him that she he went to school he would have to stop playing with pink stuff and princesses alert and play football with he boys. He has no notion of what football is, and would prefer to play with the pink stuff and princesses. So he solved it the way he knew how - he said he would be a girl instead. I talked it through with him, and reinforced that boys and girls can like pink, just as boys and girls can play football. And that not all girls like pink anyway, some (like, ooh, umm, his sisters?!) like other colours. And the result of that talk is that he is now going to be a girl who likes orange (no idea why orange, but it'll no doubt change next week anyway)).
If his school start taking notes in sort ember when he starts, and start marking him down as gender confused or some such nonsense I will be having words. He is just trying to work out the (frankly, bonkers) rules that society currently tries to impose on girls and boys.