Meet Paddy, the transgender eight-year-old

Paddy McGuire was born a boy, but from the age of two, began to wear skirts, played with dolls and read books aimed at girls.

Now aged eight, Paddy says she is and always has been, a girl.

She dresses as a girl at home, but says she pretends to be a boy at school to avoid teasing.

Paddy, from Leicester, is one of the youngest transgender people in the country, and her story features tonight as part of a documentary series on Channel 4 looking at young transgender people in Britain and America.

Paddy, her mother Lorna, her father Paddy Snr, and her brother, 13-year-old Robbie, spoke to Good Morning Britain this morning.

Her mother describes Paddy's development as a transgender youngster:

Lorna also thanked her family for their support for Paddy, and said they want to raise awareness for other children who don't get the same level of acceptance "for being who they are, and are forced to be somebody they are not".

Paddy's brother Robbie said growing up, he never saw much of a difference in Paddy, because "she had always been very girly".

The family all said that the only thing that mattered to them was Paddy's happiness.