Transgender children and adolescents should medically transition, but only once they begin puberty
Some studies have shown that transgender kids who claim to experience gender dysphoria before puberty may outgrow their gender dysphoria. The rate of "outgrowing" gender dysphoria greatly decreases after puberty.
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The Argument
Some people who are against transgender children transitioning argue that kids change their mind all the time and that feeling transgender could just be a phase. Thus, they think that we should not allow transgender kids to transition since they could change their mind. This view does have some clinical support, as some pediatric research suggests that some children who experience gender dysphoria “outgrow” their dysphoria as they begin puberty.
However, studies have shown that if a child experiences or continues to experience gender dysphoria as they begin puberty, then the dysphoria is very likely to be permanent and not a phase. Some children diagnosed with gender dysphoria will “grow out of it,” but this generally happens before puberty.[1] The Endocrine Society, which is XYZ, discourages prepubescent children from undergoing hormone treatments for this reason and encourages transgender adolescents to take puberty blockers until the age of 16 years old and then begin hormone treatments after that. This is because the effects of puberty blockers are entirely reversible, while the effects of hormone treatments can sometimes be permanent.[2]
Puberty blockers do exactly what their name suggests; they are prescription medications that temporarily delay the onset of puberty. They can also "pause" puberty once it begins. Puberty blockers suppress the release of sex hormones such as testosterone and estrogen in the body. The effects of puberty blockers include decreases in the growth of facial and body hair, voice deepening, breast development, and delays or cessation of menstruation. To be given puberty blockers, a child must have a long-lasting and intense history of gender dysphoria and must have a caretaker/guardian who consents to the treatment.[3]
Thus, transgender children ought to wait until they begin or are about to begin puberty to consider medically transitioning. Then, they should start on puberty blockers, since these have reversible consequences. By the time the child is about 16 years old, if they have had a consistent transgender identity for a significant amount of time, the individual can begin gender-affirming hormone therapy.