Father wears skirts for his son (Article in German)

[renesm1]

http://www.emma.de/ressorts/artikel/kin ... r-im-rock/

[RichardA]

http://www.emma.de/ressorts/artikel/kin ... r-im-rock/

In english
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.a ... im-rock%2F

[STEVIE]

Much seems lost in the literal translation, but is this a case of the child teaching the man?
With my "cynical hat on", I might question Dad's motivation. Has he used the kid to further his own wishes and choices?
Just not sure, but if it's genuine, that is one hell of an enlightened Daddy.
Steve.

[crfriend]

Much seems lost in the literal translation, but is this a case of the child teaching the man?

The robotic translation is so bad that it's virtually impossible to say what's actually happening, but it sounds like Dad's sticking up for the kid in no uncertain terms.

If I'm still curious in a few days' time I'll have a German co-worker of mine translate the article "on the fly" over the 'phone. It's short enough to do that with.

[skirtyscot]

Very rough summary:

The man's 5 year old boy likes to wear dresses. They used to live in Berlin, where that merely started off conversations with adults about whether or not it was a good idea. Now the family have moved to a small town - very traditional, very religious - and the boy's choices are the talk of the town.

He is trying to bring his child up believing in equal rights for all. And he's prepared to stand up and be counted. He has to have broad shoulders for his son, so he wears a skirt to support him. He can't expect any other adult to set an example for the boy, so he does it himself.

He finds long skirts quite suit him, but not dresses. They used to go out together in Berlin, where people reacted positively or hardly at all. In Berlin everyone was used to seeing unusual fashions, but in the small town it is completely different. At the boy's new day-care nursery the staff had to stop other children from laughing at him. So he stopped wearing dresses to nursery. But one day he asked "Dad, when are you going to wear a skirt again?" So the skirt went on again and out they went together. A woman was so surprised to see them like that that she walked into a lamp-post. The lad roared with laughter, and the next day he decided to wear a dress again. At first it was just at weekends, but later to nursery as well.

Now he's taken to painting his fingernails as well, and he just laughs it off when other boys say he looks ridiculous. He has broad shoulders of his own!

[pleated]

Excellent summary, skirtyscot.
Thanks.

[pleated]

This is a link to where the article is debated on rockmode.de [in German]
"Papa im Rock -- Manchmal müssen Väter eben Vorbilder sein!" (emma)
http://www.rockmode.de/index.php?topic=4095.0

[Zorba]

English version:

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/dad-pr ... 00107.html

[crfriend]

That was a great translation, Zorba. Thanks for posting the link!

[skirted_in_SF]

9,000+ comments More than I wanted to read.

[Since1982]

The kid's hair looks to be straight and dark blond. He ought to let it grow too. I have mid back long hair and wear skirts or semi-dresses nearly all the time, no one accuses me of looking like anything but a comfortable person. I get more comments about my weight than my clothes. Of course it's been over 4 years since anyone has made an unfriendly comment about my clothing so the entire Florida Keys is fairly used to unusually dressed people. In Key West it's commonplace to see men in skirted garments (mostly various kinds of kilts, and sarongs or sulus, lots of utility kilts too.)