First, let me say this article should not be used for hate of any kind. Love is the answer. We are to love all of God’s creatures, but we must also be realistic and cautious about our youth.

In today’s world, our youth are facing mounting pressures from the pandemic, social media, and social culture. Trans children and trans people are at very high risk for suicide and mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. We must support them and come to them in love and support. I am very concerned with the extreme cases where we are allowing children and teenagers to make a decision about transitioning when they are young. Our youth are being put on hormone blockers, and they are being allowed to determine what their gender is before they even truly know who they are.

We know the human brain is not fully developed until we are in our mid-20s (https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/), so how can we expect a child to understand their gender or know who they are before their brain is fully developed? As stated, we know that trans youth and trans people are at high risk for suicide, but did you know that many suicides occur after the transition? (https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/JU.0000000000001971.20). This begs the question, are we doing the best thing for our children by allowing them to start transitioning early? We need to love and support our children, but as parents, we are to help them find their way. I worry that if we continue with this trend, we are going to see far more suicides and far more suicide attempts.

Please know that I am not advocating for any discrimination. God calls us to love all people; we are all His creation and need to be there to support children struggling with their identity. Still, we should not be pushing children to transition as early as three years old when they can’t possibly understand who they are or the consequences of that decision. We have no idea what hormone blockers are going to do. I know they say it has no effect, and they can start puberty when the child decides they are ready, but how can we possibly know what the side effects are? Pharmaceutical companies often tell us medications are safe, but later, we discover the opposite and discover they have all kinds of side effects. I would urge extreme caution before putting your child on any medication or hormone blockers to help them transition into another gender until they are at least in their 20s.

Our job as parents is to guide and direct our children, and we know we will not always agree with them. For example, when a teen loses a friend or breaks up with a girlfriend or boyfriend, they genuinely believe it is the end of the world. We know that is not the case; we understand they will go on to find other partners and friends, but at that moment, the youth feels like it is the end of the world, and many believe that. We as parents are not going to agree with them and say yup, your life is over, and there is no hope. We know better. We guide lovingly through it just as we should.

This article is to help you think through some issues we, as parents, probably never thought we would face. Love your children, support your children, and don’t push them into something that may be irreversible or that they may regret later. If they do want to move into another gender, love them, but please do not do anything that may be irreversible. Please encourage them to wait until they are at least in their mid-20s and have a chance to get through puberty and adolescence. Counseling is often a good idea for our trans youth and may help them work through any difficulties they may be facing. Adolescence can be brutal. Remember that they desperately want to be loved and liked by their peers. It is up to us to be the parents.