skirtcafe.org

Found an article written by a pretty cool mom, Marci Riseman. Sounds like her husband is neat too along with their young son Liam. May the next generation of Cafe patrons grow up this comfortable being themselves.

wow.

the child has found who he's comfortable as, at that early an age.

the parents haven't freaked out or pulled the old "will my son be gay?!?!?" routine.

maybe there still is hope for this world.

cool atricle!

Until my son was about 5 or 6, pink was his favourite colour. However, he changed his mind as he grew older, and is now very traditional in his view of gender and clothing.

So this boy may be going through "a phase". Then again, this "phase" may last a lifetime!

It can be difficult for a parent in situations like the one in the article. Does one give ones son full freedom (as in this case) or does one try to explain the clothing and gender rules of society in order to protect the child from abuse?

My wife looks after our 4-year-old twin God children a day a week. The boy asked the other day why he couldn't wear dresses and skirts like his sister. He said it "wasn't fair". Which is unanswerable by anything other than "not everything in life is fair".

AndrewH wrote:The boy asked the other day why he couldn't wear dresses and skirts like his sister. He said it "wasn't fair". Which is unanswerable by anything other than "not everything in life is fair".

Hmmn, we've had the same 'problem' with our grandchildren! Just goes to show that the female of the species is still regarded as 'privileged' by virtue of their gender, as they were 50-odd years ago..........

I think as far as the article is written a good thing. Had we males never gave up wearing skirted garments and did so when I was a child my search for Self and return of Self esteem would have been a much easier road to travel. For as a young teen I knew that I wanted to wear skirts as well but, Mid-Indiana Farm country; truckers son; youngest of five; and in the 70's/80's there was no way of doing so.
Now, saying that I do have issue with this ladies article, Official Titles and affects on play roles. Is there not some better way to let the youngster express himself and choose a more male gender Title then Princess?
This allowing him to be a Princess I feel may shade his near learning into a bit of confusion when the choice of a Real Female Title becomes a true problem in his enteraction in a deeper role of society.
Would there be a way for them to Unisex some title that would fit the boys desire of dress?

imadube wrote:Would there be a way for them to Unisex some title that would fit the boys desire of dress?

Royalty. That term will do until princes are seen in the same fun dresses than run to his tastes.

I'm intrigued by the mentions of boys wondering about what they can wear. Sometimes it is just asking as a way to learn about the world rather than a desire. For those kids that wish to wear skirts it is sad that while they certainly could, the possible consequences are a lot for a young child to take on. Grandpoppa Merlin and Godfather Andrew, how about geting those boys kilts?

Quiet Mouse

Encouraging children is always important. My daughter, when she was very small, insisted she wanted to grow up to be a daddy. Her brother scoffed at this, but I said to her, "of course you can, you can grow up to be anything you want."

Naturally, after a few years she saw things differently but in the meantime she developed a strong sense of her own purpose and of what SHE thought, like her inner world was bigger and more significant to her than the outer world of people who told her what she should think or be.

I think that's how it should be; we each have an innner world which can bring something new to this big outer world, but nature won't have her work done by people with no self confidence. Everyone who achieves something seems to do it completely in spite of the world around them, which should be the case if it is something genuinely new, and we negate our purpose of being here if we just follow everyone else.

AndrewH wrote:Until my son was about 5 or 6, pink was his favourite colour. However, he changed his mind as he grew older, and is now very traditional in his view of gender and clothing.

Forgive me for resurrecting an old thread...

My (now separated) wife gave me back a Christmas present I'd given for our 4-month old son because it had pink on it. And she had said some months before that girls can wear blue, but boys can't wear pink. :-/ She's also said she never wants to see me in a skirt (not that she has, mind).

Wade