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Standing side by side, twins Logan and Alfie Symonds couldn’t look more different.

While four-year-old Alfie loves ­dinosaurs, fire engines and cars, Logan prefers sparkly dresses, wands and Frozen’s Princess Elsa.

But what makes their differences all the more striking is that these two are brothers. While Logan was born a boy, he is so sure he is a girl that mum Emma has taken the incredible step of letting him live as one.

For the past 16 months he has been wearing girl’s shoes and dresses. He even has his nails painted his favourite colour – pink.

It’s not a decision Emma, 33, took lightly.

(Image: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media)

She told the Sunday People: “At first I was a bit ­unsure. When he first started saying he was a girl I thought it was just a phase. But he’s never grown out of it.

“It’s still hard to get my head around the fact my son wants to be a girl. But it’s part of our ­everyday life now.

“There is no explanation for him. Logan is just Logan.”

In fact his love of girly things has taken over their home in Gloucester.

“When I found out I was having twin boys I thought my pink days were over, but it’s gone to the extreme where everything in the house is pink,” says single mum Emma, holding up a pair of pink pyjamas.

“I bet you can guess whose these are.”

(Image: HotSpot Media)

As she talks, her four children – Daisy, 10, Charlie, five, plus Alfie and Logan – are eating dinner.

Aware he is being talked about, Logan runs over in his black patent ballet shoes and High School Musical dress, starts to dance and says: “I’m not a boy.”

Emma laughs: “You can’t call him a boy. A woman said to me the other day, ‘What lovely boys you have’ and Logan piped up saying, ‘I’m not a boy, I’m a girl’.”

From the moment they were born in April 2011 Emma says the non-identical twins were completely different.

“As babies they always had different ­temperaments. Alfie was more chilled and laid back while Logan was always highly strung. He was very, ‘I’m here, look at me.’”

(Image: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media)

They also preferred different toys. Although, when Logan first reached for the dolls, Emma didn’t think too much of it.

“I have a little girl so I thought Logan was just playing with whatever was there.”

It wasn’t until he was 18 months that Emma realised it might be more serious.

“I’d always dressed them in matching boys’ clothes, like people do with twins. But one day Logan said, “I’m a girl, Mummy, not a boy.”

Shocked, Emma didn’t know what to do and carried on dressing the twins alike. But then Logan’s behaviour changed.

(Image: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media)

“He became really aggressive and angry. He would lash out whenever I made him wear boy’s clothes.

“If you were stood at the top of the stairs he would push you. He would throw a plate at you. He used to get really angry and throw chairs.”

At first Emma didn’t connect the issues.

“I put all his anger down to some ­under­lying behavioural issue.

“Even when he was saying things like, ‘I’m a girl,’ or ‘I want my willy to fall off,’ I thought it was a phase.

“I was like, ‘You’re a boy, you’re a boy, you’re a boy.’ But then I eventually stopped fighting him over it and he calmed down.”

(Image: HotSpot Media)

When Emma bought Logan a pair of ­ballet shoes his behaviour improved and she gradually bought him more girl’s clothes to wear around the house.

She recalls: “Even a small thing like ­getting Logan to put his pyjamas on had always been a fight. But once they were girly ones, it all changed.”

At first Emma stopped short of letting him leave the house as a girl.

She says: “But the first thing he would do at nursery is run to the dressing up box and put a Snow White dress on.”

Finally, in May last year, she relented.

“I said fine, if that’s what he wants, let’s see what happens. The first time he went out in a dress he did get funny looks. But I think I noticed them more than Logan. He just walked around proud as anything. He doesn’t care what people say or if they look at him funny.”

Now the whole family accept Logan’s preference. “If we’re out shopping, Alfie will point at something girly and say, ‘Oh, Logan will like that.’ None of the children see it as an issue.”

But Logan’s appearance has attracted criticism from strangers.

Emma says: “We went into Argos and some lady pointed at Logan’s nails and said, ‘Oh it’s wrong little boys having their nails painted.’ Logan just showed off his hands and said, ‘I’m a girl.’

“It’s hard when people are horrible ­because you do wonder, am I doing the right thing? Am I messing him up for the future? Should I fight against it and make him ­miserable? But when I see the smile on his face when he’s got a dress on, how can it be wrong?”

Despite being so different, the twins still have a close bond.

(Image: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media)

Emma says: “They still sleep in the same bed – you can’t separate them. They are so close, but complete opposites.”

For their fourth birthday in April, Emma made Logan a Frozen dress and Alfie wore a Spider-Man costume.

“We had the party at the church round the corner. Logan walked in as proud as anything. Lots of the kids were dressed up and Elsa and Anna from Frozen were there. Logan had wanted them and Alfie said the same, but I knew he was saying it for Logan. It was very sweet.”

So far Emma has not sought help or spoken to her GP about the issue. And she is ­reluctant to label Logan as transgender.

“I looked at a few support pages on Facebook and it made me wonder – is my son ­transgender or is he just ­wanting to be a girl?” she says.

(Image: HotSpot Media)

She certainly isn’t thinking about ­hormonal treatment.

“I’ve seen documentaries where they start the kids on hormones at five... but children change their minds so quickly. It’s not fair to start pumping his body full of rubbish just for him to change his mind and end up as a screwed-up man.

“If he gets to, say, eight and still wants to be a girl. That’s when I’ll seek ­professional advice.”

Though she is reluctant to let him grow his hair long and he wears clip-on ­hairpieces instead, Emma finds Logan far more girlish than boyish.

“His mannerisms, the way he stands, what he does with hands. The whole way he is, he’s just like a girl. He’s like a girl

in a boy’s body. He wants to use girls’ loos too.”

Emma dismisses the thought that it is her forcing Logan into feminine clothes. “I already had a little girl, so why would I force Logan to be one?” she asks.

(Image: HotSpot Media)

“I still call him ‘he’ because I’m just not sure what to say, if I’m honest. Most of the time I call him Mummy’s Little Princess.”

Logan is about to start primary school and Emma has decided he will wear ­trousers. “I’ve got three other kids to think about,” she says.

“If he goes to school in a dress and there’s bullying, it’s not fair on them.

“We’ve come to a compromise that he can wear girls’ socks. He’s got a girls’ pink ­rucksack and a Frozen sports ­bottle. Still, he did argue with me in Clarks because he wanted girl’s shoes and I bought him boy’s ones.”

(Image: HotSpot Media)

Whatever Logan’s future holds, Emma is content to take each day as it comes.

“It’s his happiness that counts,” she says. On Christmas day he said, ‘I’m so glad that Father Christmas knows I like girls’ stuff.’ He was so chuffed.

“I never thought anything like this would happen to my family. Now I want to talk about it and promote understanding. So other parents with children like Logan don’t feel alone and to make them aware it’s fine to let your child be who they want to be. If they’re happy, what does it matter if they’re wearing a skirt or trousers?

“I don’t care if he’s boy, girl or a bit of both... as long as he’s happy.”

Mum Emma is handling situation brilliantly

By Dr Polly Carmichael, Gender Identity director, Tavistock and Portman Clinic

It sounds as if Logan’s mum is being very thoughtful and ­caring. She is letting Logan express his gender in the way he choses, while keeping ­options open for the future.

An increasing number of child­ren are living in their ­preferred gender role, but it is more unusual for very young children like Logan.

Many parents like Emma ­report that behavior improves and their child is much happier when they are able to dress and play in the way they prefer.

Her approach seems sensible. It is important to allow young children to explore and not feel that their preferences in clothes and activities are wrong, while allowing for a change as the child develops.

There is no right or wrong and we don’t know if making an early social transition has any long-term effect on the outcome of gender identity.

In an ideal world young ­people would be free to ­explore their gender and how they choose to express it without pressure to conform.

But children who differ from the stereotype for their ­physical sex can be teased or bullied and parents frowned upon for allowing them to do so.

So parents can face some ­difficult choices.

We don’t know why some young child­ren identify more with the clothes and activities ­associated with the opposite sex.

Some believe that there is a mistake with their body and they are the opposite sex.

Evidence suggests that for the majority who feel that their body does not match their gender identity, or sense of self as a boy or girl, that these feelings do not carry on after puberty.

There is no reason to “medicalise” the issue if the child is coping. But the NHS Gender Identity Develop­ment Service for children and adolescents at the Tavistock and Portman can offer support to families.