7 year old son says he wants to be a girl

[sandi80]

Hi,

My 7 year son is suddenly saying he wants to be a girl. This is a bolt out of the blue for us as there have been no signs.

In most ways he is a typical boy. He's very active, likes martial arts, going out on his bike, pokemon, superheroes etc etc. He has a nice mix of friends at school ( boys and girls) and plays with his male cousin a great deal.

He told me that he wants to go to the hospital to be a girl as he 'doesn't feel comfortable' as a boy. I do wonder if he has seen something on TV or heard something at school?

He loves his 13 year old female cousin and likes to watch her putting make up on etc. Perhaps this has triggered it.

I am happy for him to be whatever he wants to be, but I also don't want him labelled as anything at the age of 7. He has only been saying this very recently. I think that I would be less shocked if he displayed more 'girly' behavior, but he just doesn't!

Could it be a phase?

My DD is 10 and has a friend who is a boy but dresses in quite a few girls clothes. You could not find a more "boyish" boy. He loves insects, exploring, martial arts and metal detecting....adores taking things apart and wants to be an engineer.

But he wears pink leggings and carries a handbag.

I would just speak with his teacher to start with OP....find out how he's getting on socially. Try not to focus too much on it at the moment...see how he goes as he gets older.

It might also be worth asking if they've covered anything relating to this at school?

Sometimes our kids just say something out of the blue. Maybe he hear something like that on school or on TV. Try to ask the school what they can do about this.