As I sit here on a Saturday morning, cuddling my boy in his pink t-shirt that he insisted on wearing to bed last night, I came across this. Via Hoyden.
Apparently a woman and her son playing with pink nail polish together (he’s five, his favourite colour is pink), is -exploiting young Beckett to advance the cause of “liberal, transgendered identity politics.” Whatever that is.
I can see this becoming more of an issue when the Squish goes to school. If his favourite colour is still pink in 2011, if I succeed in teaching him non-violence, if he follows both of his parents and becomes a nerd, a kid who is interested in life and everything around him, there will be those who will criticise and seek to undermine.
But I can’t see any way I can homeschool and go to uni…
Disco Knitter 
We really have found most people to be pretty open minded. Then again, I do know of one boy who wore nail polish to school one day, only to be presented the next day with a bottle of nail polish remover – from another child’s parent!
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Sounds like the kid in the states that was hassled by other parents because he wanted to wear a “girl” costume for halloween. I used to be able to laugh this shit off, but as the Squish gets older, it gets closer and closer to home. Maybe I can enroll Inigo in the school where your kids are – he’ll have a built in gang š
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We love our school. It rates like crapola on the stupid My School website, but the school community is incredibly positive, and the teachers are committed and interested in students as individuals.
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Hahaha… I saw this story earlier in the week. It made a lot of my American friends’ blogs. Don’t worry; most people in the U.S. thought the hoo-ha about it was ridiculous. (Look up John Stewart’s response on The Daily Show for an especially hilarious take.) My first thought was: “Wait til they get a load of Inigo Nettle!” š
(Seriously, rigid gender codification sucks.)
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The 5yo’s favourite colour is pink. I know several other boys who also love pink (one of them to the point of obsession- has to eat of a pink plate etc). I was a bit nervous about sending him to school with his nails done the other week because some girl had already told him he wasn’t allowed to love pink but he knows just to tell people it is silly to think that girls and boys can’t like the same things. I have been really amazed at how he’s handled himself. I think we’ve taught him enough that he’s able to maintain his strong sense of self even in the face of kids who have been taught the gender “rules”, I’m sure Squish will be just as capable when the time comes.
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You know Rory wore a Princess Dress to his first dress-up day at Kindy when he was Inigo’s age now, or maybe about 6 months older. (Look back through my old FB photos!!). From what the teachers told me, a couple of the older boys teased him “your a girl etc etc” and he looked them in the eye and replied “well it’s just dress up”!! Priceless apparently. And he still regularly dresses up as a fairy or princess with Abigail, and sometimes a superhero or even a ladybird. ATM he is sporting pale green opalescent nail polish on his toes – he can’t keep his hands still enough to have it on his hands š TBH many little boys seem pretty comfortable expressing their feminine side so he’s certainly not alone. There are a few adults who could take a lesson from a bunch of 3-5 year olds on acceptance and embracing diversity……
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