boys will be.. people.

I have two boys.  They are beautiful, wonderful, strong, awesome boys.  I love them very much.  And I DO NOT wish they were girls.  Dylan wears pink because he chooses too, and because it suits him (and I expect Isaac will probably be the same).  He plays with a toy kitchen and helps with the housework because he thinks it's fun, and he likes real cooking too.  We paint our nails and he wants pink hair like Mummy's too.. but we don't do these things because I wish he was a girl.  We do them because I see no reason why mothers shouldn't be able to hang out and have fun with their sons in the same way they would/do with their daughters.


Here's what I know about Dylan (well, just a few things anyway!):


- He is strong, yet soft.
- He is bold and beautiful.
- He loves pink, and blue, and red, and green, and orange, and yellow, and purple, and any other colour as long as it's bright.
- He likes to play with cars and he likes to play with his kitchen.
- He wants a dolls' house and a new car for his birthday.
- He doesn't want to be a man when he grows up, or a lady, he just wants to be "Dylan".
- He is, as yet, entirely undefined by his gender, and he's happy that way.
- He rocks.


So, if Dylan can be happy with himself, without being stuck in a box (pink, or blue?), why is the rest of the world so eager to stamp him down and label him?  Surely we should be encouraging children to be free in this way, to be able to enjoy themselves and express themselves, without worrying that they will be judged or told they're doing it wrong?  It makes me a little sad when I see small girls being told that what they're wearing or doing is too 'boyish' and when I see small boys being told they're too 'girly'.  They're just children.  Let them be.


There's a saying, isn't there?  'It takes a real man to wear pink'.  Dylan, of course, would disagree.  He'd say it takes a real *person*, because that's what he sees when he looks in the mirror.  It's funny, really, that at not-quite-three-yet he's more open-minded than people I know who have experienced so much of life.


I'm glad that we're raising our boys the way that we are.  Undefined by their gender, able to express their thoughts and feelings when they need to, able to wear whatever they like, whenever they like, and able to think and speak for themselves.  Let them wear pink, let them wear dresses if they like, let them paint their nails and dye their hair and wear make-up when they're older, if that's what they want to do.


Boys will be people, after all.