Nope, this has nothing to do with re racking your weights so I don’t have to, although that’s really annoying folks. Its not about when I feel totally intimidated by the men with bulging muscles that work out around me and my puny little arms. This is about when I dropped my son off for child care.

We have never stereotyped gender roles in our house. I have two sons, AJ (10) and CW (5), and I can remember many times when they have both wanted to do things or have things that society might say are for girls. AJ spent hours on the playground in preschool playing princesses with the girls, and then wanted to be Word Girl for Halloween. He most recently purchased a Nerf Rebelle Crossbow, and had no problem purchasing it, but the lady at the checkout asked if he was going to a birthday party for a girl in his class.

I’m really excited about the strides that are being made in the area of girls toys. I think products like Goldie Blox and Nerf Rebelle are great, in that they market traditionally “boy toys” to girls. Although when was it not ok for girls to play with erector sets or nerf guns? But that’s a post for another time.

However, in our move to move girls into the areas that have been reserved for boys we haven’t made the same lateral move for our sons. CW wants his nails painted all the time, but he has learned that he might get made fun of at church or school. He watches My Little Pony and sings frozen in the car. He can even articulate that “if I like pink its a boy color, because I’m a boy, and if a girl likes blue its a girl color, because she’s a girl”. This is more than I can say for what we encounter most often when we meet people while he’s wearing his Cinderella ring and carrying his unicorn.

This Saturday we went to the gym and CW got to pick out the movie. He picked little mermaid and the attendant raised her eyes, I informed her that he also wanted My Little Ponies for Christmas, almost gearing up for a fight. She just smiled and said “tell me all about the ponies little man.” Later she came out and found me on the treadmill and said “A little girl comes in every Saturday with her My Little Pony backpack, filled with ponies, and no one ever wants to play with her. This week she came in and dumped them on the floor and your son said ‘You’ve got to be KIDDING me!!’ and was just so excited. He has been playing with her ever since, and I think its the greatest thing I’ve ever seen!”

This truly warmed my heart, somebody recognized my son for who he is. A sweet little boy who loves ponies, and who knows a lot about how to be a good friend. My prayer is that we can let kids be kids, and let them decide who God has created them to be, painted nails and all.