#8 by John P. M. » Nov 24, 2012 3:58 pm
I don't have too much to contribute with on this topic, as I don't know too much about it, but I did watch a small documentary not too long ago about a family here in Norway where the parents chose to keep both girl's clothes and boy's clothes and toys in their home, and let their kids decide what they wanted to wear/play with at any given time, as bias free as they could. And one of the boys at a very young age picked out things like pink dresses to wear and so on. But, only a few years later, he had voluntarily started dressing in boy's clothes and playing with typical boy's toys, and didn't want to put on a dress anymore.
Of course, I suppose that even if he's still at a very young age, one could interject that he is now more influenced by peers (after all, he must have friends to play with), and so there may be a pressure to conform already. I guess one won't know until later.
But in that example too, it seemed to be a case of what he loved to watch and imagine being, from children's books and TV, which influenced what he wanted to wear and play with, without thought that it was "for girls".
I do think the OPs five years old seems too young an age to be making a lasting decision on this though, even though it was more than just toys and clothes in that instance. Although, as long as we're not talking surgery or hormone therapy at that age, there's no harm in letting him dress in and play with whatever he wants.
IIRC, here in Norway, kids who display 'gender issues' are monitored and have regular talks with professionals, and then at a later age it is decided if they should get treatment to go one way or the other.