text: Support: Kai Windsor, now 10, with his mother Rachel . Like most boys, he always preferred football to dolls. But Kai Windsor started life as a girl – and knew from the age of three that he had been born into the wrong body. Christened Kaia, he would shun traditional girls’ toys in favour of kicking a ball around. By four, he refused to wear dresses – and at six he wanted his hair cut short and developed a boyish awkwardness around girls. By nine, he had finally broken the truth to his mother Rachel, 37, telling her: ‘I’m really a boy.’ Now, at the age of ten, Kai is set to undergo hormone treatment to halt puberty to stop him developing into a woman. Miss Windsor, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, said: ‘As a toddler, Kai only wanted to play ball. As a girl, he had no interest in any dolls and made a beeline for boy’s toys. ‘And as soon as he began school, he only wanted to wear trousers as the other boys did. Soon after, I noticed he went red whenever girls were around.’ Kai is not alone in facing gender problems. The number of transgender referrals to the NHS for children under 11 has quadrupled since 2009. Like many parents in her situation, Miss Windsor had never heard of children facing such issues. But the single mother, who runs a health juice business, said Kai had ‘amazing support’ from his primary school. He was given counselling when his schoolwork started to suffer, and later decided to confront the issue head-on. ‘They were the ones who suggested Kai should have counselling,’ she said. ‘Then when he came out as transgender, they sent a letter out to all the parents in his year to explain he now wanted to be referred to as a boy. ‘Staff then held a special lesson for all the year to explain about being transgender. And now they are even in the process of building unisex toilets to make life easier for Kai and other children like him.’ Kaia pretty in pink, aged four, pictured left, and dressing up as a pirate, at five, pictured right . When Kai was born there was no outward sign he was anything other than female. Miss Windsor, who also has a daughter Jasmine, 16, from a previous relationship, said: ‘As a toddler I usually put Kaia in dresses and bought her lots of dolls. Meanwhile, as her blonde hair grew, I put in pigtails. It simply never occurred to me she wouldn’t be as feminine as her sister.’ She added: ‘Looking back Kai knew then he was a boy. He had no interest in dolls, preferring to play with a football. And when we were out he’d head straight for the boy’s section in shops, asking for Spiderman toys.’ At seven, Kai wanted his hair cut shorter. But his grades started suffering and he was later given counselling at school. Within a few weeks, his behaviour and schoolwork improved and last year he officially became transgender after telling his mother one morning. Transgender Kai is now happy in his skin at last and is now set to undergo hormone treatment . Meanwhile, his grades immediately improved. ‘Once people stopped referring to Kai as a girl and he could just be the little boy he wanted, he was so much happier,’ she said. Kai is now set to have hormone treatment to curb puberty. If at the age of 16, he wants to complete the full transition to an adult man, he will be offered gender reassignment surgery. Miss Windsor added: ‘There have been plenty of tears. It is hard to see your child going through such turmoil. But whatever happens I will always be there to support Kai. ‘And right now it is just a wonderful relief to see him happy in his own skin at last.’
target: Kai Windsor knew from  three that he had been born in the wrong body .
  By four he wouldn't wear dresses and by six he wanted to cut his hair short .
  Kai came out at school as a transgender and is now referred to as a boy .
  At age of 10 he is set to undergo hormone treatment to halt puberty .