Don’t let gender define who you want to be
As I sit on the sofa watching my nearly four year old twins dance around the room a feeling of contentment washes over me.
R is happily break-dancing whilst dressed in a Spiderman costume and M is doing ballet with a pretty ballerina outfit on.
They’re giggling amongst themselves as they throw themselves around the room and perform delicate jumps and leaps.
They’re happy because they’re free to be who they want to be. No-one is judging them. No-one them is telling them who to be. No-one is telling them what to do or how they should dress. They’re just kids being kids and enjoying themselves.
R and M are both girls.
Does that mean they should be wearing ballerina costumes? Should I hide the Spiderman costume?
Absolutely not!
Oh and whilst we’re at it, no R is not a tom boy. She’s a girl who likes doing her own thing whether that be break-dancing, playing football or pretending she’s Spiderman or Captain America.
When did it become the norm for football to be a boys only sport and ballet to be restricted to girls? I know times are changing and I think they’re changing for the better. Well, I hope so.
Don’t ask my child why she isn’t wearing dress or suggest that she does some ballet instead. She loves football, break dancing and her jeans and shorts, but most of all she loves her collection of Spiderman t-shirts.
When I open the wardrobe doors I allow my children the freedom to choose what they want to want to wear.
M always picks a dress and R always picks jeans or shorts with a t-shirt. Sometimes she’ll choose her Spiderman t-shirt, other times she’ll choose a pink t-shirt. At the end of the day I always say, it’s your body, you can dress it however you want to.
Parents, please don’t push your child to be the stereotypical gender norm that’s been planted in your head by your peers and the media.
Who says girls can’t play football, dig in the mud and climb trees?
Giving your children the creative freedom to do what they want and wear what they want, will help them to discover the person that they are. By denying them of this, you’re denying them the right to be themselves.
5 Comments
Awaken-Beauty
February 18, 2016 at 7:09 am
I completely agree! When we were over my friends house the other day Josh asked me to be a fairy princess with wings and I was like sure and helped him into his wings, sent a photo to his dad saying how cute he was and his dad went mad saying get it off him now and i was like, why? whats the big deal he's three and he can choose what he wants!! I think he looked pretty cute! As do the girls always! xxx
Baby Isabella
February 18, 2016 at 8:23 am
We agree that parents should give their kids creative freedom! Some days I want to be a Princess other days I want to be Captain Jake! We like mixing it up in this household too!
Katie Davies
February 18, 2016 at 8:24 am
Completely agree with you
It's just harmless fun let them be who they want to be
Anne-Marie
February 18, 2016 at 8:55 am
Absolutely. My daughters are the same (not twins) – their interests are their interests. I'm so proud that they tell their friends that there's no such thing as boys toys or girls toys, and complain about sexism in adverts 🙂
Hannah Latoya Bond
February 18, 2016 at 7:04 pm
I definitely think people should be who they are and don't let stupid things like gender tell them who they can or cannot be x