The controversial costume that outraged moms, made boy happy
A good parent tells their child he can be anything he wants. Especially on Halloween. And that's just what one mommy blogger did. When her 5 year-old son got a hankering to be Daphne from the Scooby Doo gang, she bought him the red wig and the costume of his dreams. But she didn't bargain for the ridicule from moms at her son's nursery school Halloween party.
She writes: "Two mothers went wide-eyed and made faces as if they smelled decomp...Mom A says in disgust, "Did he ask to be that?!" I say that he sure did as Halloween is the time of year that you can be whatever it is that you want to be...And then Mom C approaches [and says that] I should never have 'allowed' this and thank God it wasn't next year when he was in Kindergarten since I would have had to put my foot down and 'forbidden' it."
It's hard not to question every choice you make as a mom. But in this instance, the mommy blogger knew it wasn't her family with the problem. It was other mothers. And she wasn't going to stand for their bullying.
So she took to her blog and to defend her son. And came to one very strong conclusion: there's a double standard.
"If my daughter had dressed as Batman, no one would have thought twice about it. No one."
The past few weeks, the struggles of young, gay men has become a serious issue. The expectations of others, especially for boys, can lead to agonizing and sometimes fatal circumstances. If anyone understands the need for equal rights to self-expression it's women. So why don't young boys have the same freedoms as young girls? Thanks to moms like these, some do.
"If a set of purple sparkly tights and a velvety dress is what makes my baby happy one night, then so be it. If he wants to carry a purse, or marry a man, or paint fingernails with his best girlfriend, then ok. My job as his mother is not to stifle that man that he will be, but to help him along his way. Mine is not to dictate what is 'normal' and what is not, but to help him become a good person."
