Ever since Harvey could walk, he wanted to be wherever his big sister was, doing whatever she was doing. He is a rough and tumble boy through and through, and he is obsessed with excavators and skid loaders and back hoes. He also LOVES to dress up in girly dresses and paint his nails. Almost every day that I come home from work he is in a dress, and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. Thankfully my husband and most of our friends are totally supportive of this, and there is rarely a comment made about his choice of clothing.
I’d like to believe I’m open minded about sexuality and parenting. I’ve tried hard to raise my kids in such a way that they feel supported and loved, no matter what they’re interested in at the time. There are no boy colors & girl colors or boy toys and girl toys in our house. That being said, it’s hard to shake off the judgement of society, isn’t it?
This morning I painted the kids’ nails while they were playing dress-up, and without thinking, I tried to convince Harvey to use the pale white color because it wouldn’t be so obvious on his fingers when we went to church in an hour. He was adamant about wanting pink on one hand and white on the other (just like his big sis), and when I realized it was my own insecurities that were the problem, I happily painted his left hand nails pink.