Kids join clubs to get together with other children who have similar interests. They share their love for a hobby or an activity, allowing them to forge close ties with their co-members. However, there is a new club in Missouri that is a bit different from the usual kids clubs. It is also the first type of kids clubs in existence as its members are transgender children.
According to Yahoo, the Children's Hospital in St. Louis started hosting the first-ever kids club for transgender in the ages between 5 to 12. To date, the group already received 20 members and they have been holding their monthly meetings regularly.
Like any regular club, they have different creative activities such as drawing, dancing, and playing dress up. The younger kids gather around in circles for story time during the afternoon. Everything is structured and streamlined with the help of the staff at the hospital. The kids are also given the chance to talk with the psychologist, Dr. Rachael Juehring. However, its organizers would like to make it clear that this is not to be taken as therapy, as implied in the report.
The club encourages their members to wear name tags where they can actually put whatever name they want to be called. They also indicate whether they want to be addressed as a "he" or a "she." The most important aspect of this club, however, is allowing and encouraging kids to just be themselves.
According to FOX, some of the children do not even know what their gender is. However, the club is one of the safest places they can share all of their uncertainties, whether it's physical or emotional.
The founder of the club, Kim Hutton, saw the need for such a support group because kids with "non-traditional gender identities" do exist. "In their day to day lives, they might feel isolated, like they're the only kid going through this. But when they get together, they meet kids just like them, and it's freeing. They can be themselves," said Hutton in the Yahoo report.
She said that the group started as a yearly event that turned into a regular arrangement. Hutton is also the founder of Transparent, a group that caters to parents with transgender kids. She herself is a parent of a transgender, so she understands where everyone is coming from. Transparent has more than 100 members to date.
In the same FOX report, it was noted how transgender children have not even been discussed five years ago. Now, hospitals like St. Louis have opted to include gender questions when they are screening in-patients.
