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Change ... as Sophie, one (left), and Jake, five (right) Happy family ... mum Sarah, Jake, sister Olivia and dad Yuri MUM and dad told last night of their astonishing decision to let their little GIRL start to live as a BOY from the age of just four. In a move that will shock every parent, they cut the child’s hair and changed her name from Sophie to Jake. And they asked teachers, friends, family and their church to treat their daughter as their son. Sarah and Yuri Brown believe Jake, now five, is a little boy trapped in a girl’s body — the youngest-ever case of its kind. By the time she was two, Sophie was repeatedly insisting to his parents: “I really am a boy”. By four she refused to wear dresses and, following psychological tests, was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder. Full-time mum Sarah, 37, said: “We have a daughter Olivia who is eight so Sophie mostly had her sister’s hand-me-downs of pretty dresses and pink T-shirts. "In our old family photographs she is holding flowers, wearing girlie dresses — and is such a pretty little girl. We even decorated her nursery with Disney’s Tinkerbell. "But as soon as she could tell us, at two years old, she started to say that she was a boy. "At first I didn’t argue with her much, as I thought it was just a phase. But she was insistent. "At three I sat down with a children’s anatomy book and explained, ‘You were born a girl. Here is the girl’s parts — this is what you have. "And she looked up at me and said, ‘When did you change me?’ "Her sister Olivia is very much a girlie-girl. She loves fashion, make-up and is very particular about how she dresses. "But Sophie was obsessed with superheroes from an early age. She would dress as Spiderman for Halloween and the character is on her favourite T-shirt. "Once when she was wearing the costume someone came up and said, ‘Oh you are Spidergirl’. But she was insistent, ‘No, I’m Spiderman’. "She started wearing androgynous, plain white tank tops to school. I sat down and said, ‘What’s wrong with your clothes, why won’t you wear them?’ And she said, ‘They’re too girlie’. "She identified with the male characters on TV shows. We even bought her male dolls when she threatened to cut the hair off her sister’s dolls. "Sophie also insisted on taking male roles in every game she played.” Dad Yuri, 40, a teacher, added: “Around that time she got into our medicine cabinet and tried to use my razor, pretending to shave her face, and she cut her lip.” It was then that the parents, who live on the east coast of America, made the extraordinary decision to allow their little girl to live as a boy. Sarah said: "It became clear that this was absolutely the right thing to do for our child. "Through research on the internet I realised that my daughter was transgender. "I found a therapist. She diagnosed Gender Identity Disorder and said Sophie should be allowed to live as a boy. I also found a book called The Transgender Child which made everything so clear to me. "It revealed that if you force a child to conform it could have a devastating impact on their life including depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and emotional scars. "Then we decided it was time to let Sophie start dressing as a boy. "The first time I asked, ‘Would you like to shop in the boy’s department?’, my child was ecstatic. "We bought shirts and shorts. And where Sophie had been wearing two piece swimsuits we switched over to pirate-themed shorts and sun tops — ones that made her identify as a boy. "The next step was choosing a boy name. She originally wanted Jack but I didn’t like it, so we ended up with Jake.” They also sat down and gently explained the extraordinary situation to big sister Olivia. Sarah said: “At first she started to get upset and say, ‘I want my sister back.’ "She got time with the therapist to talk it through and they worked out what she could say to her friends. After that she was fine.” Then they let Jake, as “he” was now called, cut his hair very short like a boy. Sarah said: “I think it was more traumatic for the hairdresser than it was for me. "She kept saying, ‘You can’t really mean you want it that short’. I think at that point it really didn’t bother me any more. He was transitioning into a boy and I had accepted that.” Last autumn Sarah and Yuri took the brave decision to go public in their community — first at their local church, then the school. Sarah said: “We were so nervous as we knew people would judge us. I was ready for a fight. "My sole priority was making sure no one hurt my child. I wasn’t going to allow anybody to make him feel bad.” To their relief, everyone was supportive. The church even welcomed transsexual speakers one Sunday to educate the congregation. And Sarah decided to write a heartfelt letter to all the parents. of children at Jake’s school. She recalled: "I said we’re allowing him to live as a male — please be respectful of him and us. "We found a book called When Kathy is Keith about a male to female transition and the teacher read it to the kids and talked about how Sophie feels like the character in this book. Thank goodness it was pretty smooth. The kids just accepted it. Everyone switched to Jake and life went on.” As for Jake, the last part of his transition is taking place this week. Sarah said: “I told him a couple of months ago we would give him a Star Wars bedroom. And I’m in the process of decorating it this week,” He looked at me recently and said, ‘I’m never going to be a girl again Mummy’. "We have told him — and he doesn’t like it when we suggest it — that he could go back. "So we have left that door open. But my instinct as a mother is it’s not going to change. "The hard time is when he approaches puberty and we will have to start making decisions — about whether we will need to give him puberty blockers and hormones or more. "I’m part of a parent online support group, we speak to parents in the middle of the process. So we are prepared. "We will just follow Jake’s lead. Yes, it is going to be difficult. "But I think if it’s that important to him then it’s the right thing. "Any child willing to endure painful injections shows clearly that it means the world to them. "I am so proud of Jake for staying true to himself and so grateful he is my child. "He has challenged my narrow definitions of gender and made me a better person. He has forced us all to re-examine our beliefs.” This site contains materials from other clearly stated media sources for the purpose of discussion stimulation and content enrichment among our members only. whatsonningbo.com does not necessarily endorse their views or the accuracy of their content. 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