One of my cis kids wanted to be a dog for about a year. She wore a dog costume all the time at home and she would go about on all fours. I let her be a dog as much as she wanted.

The difference between a kid playacting to be an animal/superhero/insert transphobes' choice of inanimate object - and a trans child insisting they are a different gender to the one their parents assumed them to be - SHOULD be obvious - but as this argument is one I hear often

and one I have direct experience of, I thought I'd look at it.

My cis kid did not want to be a dog at school.
Not being a real dog caused her zero distress.
When people mistook her for a girl it did not bother her at all.
She knew she was a girl PRETENDING TO BE A DOG.

She didn't ask if there was any way she could be a dog.
She didn't want to wear a collar or ask to be put on a lead or ask for any of the other things we associate with dogs.
After about a year she no longer wanted to be a dog.

My cis kid knew at all times that she was a child pretending to be a dog, she enjoyed us playing along with her game.

In contrast, my trans kid saying she was a girl was not fun for her - it was scary & a huge relief as pretending to be a boy had caused her very real distress

My trans kid is not playacting at being a girl. She says she has always been a girl. She says it was us who made the mistake about her, not her being wrong about herself or her coming to the realisation she was a girl.
Us, we were the ones who were wrong.

She gets very upset & distressed when she is misgendered. She's been adamant and consistent that she is a girl for many years now.
In every way that matters she is a girl. It matters - a lot - to her that others see her as a girl. It causes her pain when they don't.

Recognition and respect is all she is asking for. It's that simple.
To negate the experiences of trans kids is to harm them. To not believe them when they say they know their own identity is to silence them.
It is rightly seen as a form of abuse. It is conversion therapy.

Educate yourself if you are confused/worried/alarmed/unsure about trans kids. Read some of the many studies on trans children. Talk to them or talk to their parents.
#TransChildrenAreRealPeople too. They exist.
#TransPeopleAreRealPeople #ProtectTransKids #LoveOurTransKids