Posted on 12/30/2009 5:41:49 PM PST by SmithL
When my husband was 7 years old, his family went to Kauai. He forgot to pack his swimsuit for the trip and his dad and stepmom punished him for his forgetfulness (because 7-year-olds are so forgetful) by forcing him to wear his skivvies to the beach.
My husband must have been emotionally scarred by the incident because he tells this story often, and not to make people laugh, but as an example of child cruelty.
He's extremely sensitive about how I clothe our own son, and I, the unaccredited psychologist, think it might be somehow linked...
His uncomfortableness with our son wearing clothing that he considers "funky" or "weird" or "girlish" came out again last night when I pulled a trash bag filled with our ski clothes from the garage. (We're going to the snow next month.)
We haven't been to the snow in over two years, so the children's ski clothes were small. My 5-year-old son had outgrown the bib tops he wore when he was 2. But when I came across the powder-puff pink snowsuit our 4-year-old daughter had worn, my eyes lit up.
Our son is a small 5-year-old who can definitely fit into these, I thought.
My husband read my mind, and sternly said, "Our son is NOT wearing those."
I can't say that I was surprised by his reaction because, as I've already said, he has a history with shunning outfits I pick out for our son. But I was frustrated.
I have this pie-in-the-sky progressive attitude that we shouldn't force gender stereotypes on our children. I don't want to lock them into a gender cage, telling them that blue is only for boys and pink only for girls.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Amy Graf is not a very good planner. I had 4 kids, within 5 years. Their clothes were all tailored versions of red, white, or navy blue until they got into high school and rebelled. The girls still had to wear the r,w, or b clothes because those happened to be their school colors, but the boys got to branch out to Kelly green because they went to a different high school.
My point being that many of the styles they wore were unisex (as in V necked cardigans, wind breakers, polo shirts, T shirts, turtle necks, etc.) Garments passed from one to another seamlessly until the youngest had acquired the largest pile of clothes by the time he was in college.
Didn’t harm any of them. They are all college educated (some with advanced degrees), married to people of the opposite sex and parents of 11 lovely grandchildren.
And I never once made any boy wear pink.
That's how they say it in CA. Almost everybody lives within 2-3 hours from "the snow" and the majority of people drive there to ski, toboggan, and play and drive home at night to sleep in their own beds. I live in WI now and find that "snow" is highly over-rated.
That's such a hilarious movie.
*"Gak."* Do SanfranSickies really talk this way?
As a San FranSickian, yes, we really do talk that way. I guess it's because we don't get any snow (really none to speak of).
Doesn't everybody go to the snow?? < :P
I’m a mom. Don’t DO this!
Oh MAN! I apologize to all! i am not doing a good job tonight previewing before posting. Sorry very, very much for the obscenity.
admin mod, can you nuke that photo?
Thank You! (going to bed now)
OK, but I can’t resist a parting shot. Part of the reason for BEING married is to have someone to champion you and help defend you to the world. Someone to actually BE ON YOUR SIDE. If her husband is sensitive about this sort of thing, she should be his most zealous defender. Be a friend, be a wife, be a partner. You won’t regret it.
Metro-sexual blithering idiot.
OMG you must be my long lost twin sister!!!! I’m 52 and to this day I won’t wear short hair. I got called “son” way too many times.
He needs a new outfit for his son - and maybe a new wife...
Is EVERYTHING an issue with liberals? Dye the d@mn thing or bleach it white, everyone’s happy including the boy.
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