Hey Mom, Be Yourself
Another one from our fantastic guest blogger Trudi Evans...
Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine(http://www.aswearemagazine.com) new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she’s not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group (http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes.
They say that when we look at the world through the eyes of children, we get to experience the firsts all over again.
My son Sam is 4 ½ years old. He goes to daycare part-time and he’s an affable, social kid. The girls call him Sam-Sam-the-ladies-man. The teachers are heartbroken that he’s off to school this fall and they won’t get their daily dose of Sam-lovin’. The boys take their time to high-five and hug him before he leaves every day. In fact, they sort of treat him like a rock star.
This was not my exact experience as a child. I was painfully shy and withdrawn (oh, how I’ve changed!). I sort of slipped in and out of the shadows. When Sam came home on Tuesday night and wanted his toenails painted purple, I wondered: can I handle the pain of childhood taunting again? How will I support him when they inevitably reject his non-conformist ways? This wasn’t the first I wanted to re-experience.
After his lavender bubble bath, my little metrosamuel got out and had his nails trimmed and painted. His wee toes now sport a deep and royal metallic purple. He was giddy with excitement at his cool new toes and could not wait for daycare the next day. He even passed on wearing his favourite shoes for sandals so his toes would be visible all the time.
Before I tell you what happened to Sam that day, let me tell you about David. David goes to Sam’s daycare and every day when he arrives, he heads straight for the dress-up clothes and pulls on the same purple princess gown over his camouflage shorts and football tee-shirt and wears it the entire day. He loves his purple gown.
When Sam arrived at daycare with his purple toes, he barreled down the stairs to show his favourite teacher. David ripped across the room, his purple gown flouncing around him, took one look at Sam’s toes and cried “Toenail polish is for girls!” and huffed off.
At 4 ½, my kid doesn’t quite get irony. My husband, on the other hand, couldn’t hold in his laughter. Amazingly, Sam just shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes and went off to play.
When he came home at the end of the day, I asked him if everyone loved his toes. His face was full of sadness. “They laughed at me mom. They thought it was silly for a boy to have toe paint.” I offered to remove it for him.
“No way! I’m wearing this forever.” He exclaimed.
This was a first I was happy to experience. Confidence and non-conformity are traits I always admire in others, and here I was admiring it in my son, age 4 ½.
Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine(http://www.aswearemagazine.com) new space on the web for women to feel good, speak out and be heard. When she’s not promoting the magazine, Trudi acts as the president of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group (http://www.edag.ca), plays in the sprinkler with her 4 ½ year old son, hangs out with her husband of ten years, and chases the cat back into the house. She is currently growing pumpkins in containers on her deck and thinking about female super heroes.
They say that when we look at the world through the eyes of children, we get to experience the firsts all over again.
My son Sam is 4 ½ years old. He goes to daycare part-time and he’s an affable, social kid. The girls call him Sam-Sam-the-ladies-man. The teachers are heartbroken that he’s off to school this fall and they won’t get their daily dose of Sam-lovin’. The boys take their time to high-five and hug him before he leaves every day. In fact, they sort of treat him like a rock star.
This was not my exact experience as a child. I was painfully shy and withdrawn (oh, how I’ve changed!). I sort of slipped in and out of the shadows. When Sam came home on Tuesday night and wanted his toenails painted purple, I wondered: can I handle the pain of childhood taunting again? How will I support him when they inevitably reject his non-conformist ways? This wasn’t the first I wanted to re-experience.
After his lavender bubble bath, my little metrosamuel got out and had his nails trimmed and painted. His wee toes now sport a deep and royal metallic purple. He was giddy with excitement at his cool new toes and could not wait for daycare the next day. He even passed on wearing his favourite shoes for sandals so his toes would be visible all the time.
Before I tell you what happened to Sam that day, let me tell you about David. David goes to Sam’s daycare and every day when he arrives, he heads straight for the dress-up clothes and pulls on the same purple princess gown over his camouflage shorts and football tee-shirt and wears it the entire day. He loves his purple gown.
When Sam arrived at daycare with his purple toes, he barreled down the stairs to show his favourite teacher. David ripped across the room, his purple gown flouncing around him, took one look at Sam’s toes and cried “Toenail polish is for girls!” and huffed off.
At 4 ½, my kid doesn’t quite get irony. My husband, on the other hand, couldn’t hold in his laughter. Amazingly, Sam just shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes and went off to play.
When he came home at the end of the day, I asked him if everyone loved his toes. His face was full of sadness. “They laughed at me mom. They thought it was silly for a boy to have toe paint.” I offered to remove it for him.
“No way! I’m wearing this forever.” He exclaimed.
This was a first I was happy to experience. Confidence and non-conformity are traits I always admire in others, and here I was admiring it in my son, age 4 ½.
posted by Jess at 12:37 PM
2 Comments:
hey! i like your blog -- we are into empowerment!
be we all as metrosamuels and the world would smile brighter and longer :)
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