Here's my confession:
These could have been my sons, on Halloween. Chris wanted to dress up as Cassie from Dragon Tales (at age 4) and Nicholas would have loved to have been Cinderella (at age 3). We did not discourage them outright, but we also did not actively encourage their choices and quietly steered them toward other options, presumably because we didn't want them to get teased.
Now I've never been one of those moms who got offended when my baby boys were (often) mistaken for girls. I dressed them in purple (who knew? a girl's color???) although avoided pink (although I wouldn't have dressed baby girls in pink either). Nicholas loves to clomp around in my high-heeled boots. All of our kids love dress-up. I even painted one of the boys' fingernails once at their request.
I chafe at gender stereotypes and the pink/blue aisles in toy sections. Blech!!! My husband is a stay-at-home dad, and the kids think that it's normal for the mom to be the one to leave for work. My boys know that I will love them no matter who they are, gay or straight, because I sing a song to them about that every single night ("Everything Possible").
This mom is inspiring:
After reading this mom's story, I feel like a huge coward.
Blogger "Nerdy Apple Bottom" bought her son a Daphne costume (from Scooby Doo) and boldly let her 5-year-old go where few boys has gone before. She wrote a spirited, feisty post about her son being gay--or not (he's 5 years old!)--but how dare people tell him how he can dress for Halloween? And how dare people imply that his choice of a Halloween costume is somehow going to predict his sexual orientation? She discovered that the moms at her son's Christian preschool were far more condemning than the other children. No surprise there.
Nicholas loves Scooby Doo too. If he wants to dress up as Daphne next year for Halloween, I'm going to let him. Thanks, Nerdy Apple Bottom, for giving me the courage!
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