A heartwarming story about a parent's experience with her son wearing traditionally feminine clothes to school. People these days seem much more accepting and supportive than in the past. I feel like even though the political climate is divisive and stressful, stories like this are evidence that we are progressing, even if they are just small steps. The younger generation seems like they will bring positive change just by the nature of them being more open minded.
My 7yo son went to school with a pink bathing suit for his swimming lesson today
When he was 3 years old, he loved pink things, princesses and nail polish, and wore his hair long. When he got older his interest became more stereotypical for boys: dragons, dinosaurs and ninjas to name a few, and wanted his hair short, so we kind of assumed it was a phase. Occasionally he still asked for nail polish, and wore it happily. A few kids in school told him it was for girls, he told them it was just pretty and he liked it. Most kids and the teacher were kind and gave him compliments... READ ON!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/vhzyqf/my_7yo_son_went_to_school_with_a_pink_bathing/
@itsmaibirfday What a wonderful story!  All reports i hear and read point to some powerful changes  in the public schools.  Can anyone here over the age of thirty imagine such loving and logical acceptance in your elementary school days?  Thank you for posting this!
This is the most amazing article. Â Thank you so much for posting it. Â
Wow! Wow! Â Wow!!
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I had a 7 year old boy in my class this year who wanted to wear nail polish. He painted his nails while he was in gym class. I saw his hands after class because he had made a mess with a marker. I was shocked at first, because it's my first year teaching and I wasn't expecting this kind of self-expression from a first grader. From a fifth-grader, yes. But then I remembered I tried to paint my nails when I was in third grade and my dad yelled at me and made me wash it off. I didn't want that to be this student's experience. I had to reprimand him for taking a marker out of the classroom. I told him it's not the fact that he painted his nails I was concerned about, but that he took the marker to gym and apparently used it instead of engaging in gym class. When I asked him why he did it, he pointed to another boy in my class and said, because Andrew (not his real name) did it and I want to paint my nails. I was laughing inside, but trying to handle it professionally. I had to share it with his mom at pickup. She was very calm about it and said, "Why do you want to paint your nails?" He replied, "Because I like it and I want pretty nails and a purse." She just smiled as if to say, "That's our Brandon (again not real name)." 😆 The younger generation is much more tolerant of change and self expression. None of the kids in my class said anything rude or mean to him about it. It could be because he was one of the smartest and most assertive students in my class. But I think the teacher sets the stage for how to react to such things and kids will follow and be accepting as well if the teacher is.
@dannyboy this article on how Uranus (planet of change) will be aligning with the Lunar North Node at the end of July might explain some of the uneasiness you are feeling as well. While it may be rough energy, this alignment should ascend the planet as a whole. https://foreverconscious.com/intuitive-astrology-uranus-and-the-north-node-2022 Â Â
I am not a teacher myself (and may God bless anyone in that profession) but I come from a family of teachers. People truly don't appreciate teachers any more! High stress, low pay, (not to mention the always present risk of a school shooting), and not nearly the respect and power they richly deserve. My hat's off to you.
This story brings to mind a conversation I had with classmates when I was in highschool in the nineties. We were discussing how a male classmate had apparently borrowed his sister's foundation to hide some acne he had. Most of the guys had given him a hard time and called him names that I won't repeat here. Most of us girls came to his defense.
Which brings up a question that has plagued me ever since. Why has no one thought of starting a line of male cosmetics? I am thinking foundation and powder for the face that helps accentuate a male's features, tones down any discoloration (and, in some people's cases, acne and scarring), and is designed to treat men's faces during puberty and the time they develop facial hair whilst still allow them to feel more confident in their natural masculinity and handsomeness?
I have never understood why no one has tried to produce male-targeted cosmetics before. I know that many of my male friends suffered growing up because they often had to bare the embarrassment of acne and scarring while us girls at least had the ability to cameflogue it. It seems a bit unfair to me.
Of course, this is coming from a female who questioned why girls wore dresses and boys wore pants in grade school because, by my reasoning, boys needed more room in that particular area of their anatomy than girls did. LOL! Only seven years old, and I was already a budding liberal, especially with my assertion that the Scotts must be the smartest men in the world for recognizing that important fact. 😂
Yes, I am a bad, bad girl.
But seriously, will a day come where my male colleagues can go to tge local store and buy some foundation without embarrassment? Because it seems a bit unfair that my fellow male friends can't have their own line of cosmetics.
Hilarious! 😂. In college I would sometimes use foundation to hide my acne. I think there are male cosmetics out now. They probably don't get the attention though. I've switched to using charcoal soap and tea tree oil for acne. It works so well. I'll stick with pants. Thank you. Teaching is a trip. Kids are so much fun. As far as shootings go, well I'm in a school that has shootings right outside our school at least once a year. The day before I started, a person was gunned down right next to our parking lot. The main concern is that if a gunman ever tried to break into our school, the fear is parents in our neighborhood would probably show up with their guns to take the shooter out. I'm told there's a lot of drugs and shootings on our street but they leave us alone because their kids attend our school, soooo... I just try to walk with angel protection whenever I feel worried. Â
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Why has no one thought of starting a line of male cosmetics? I am thinking foundation and powder for the face that helps accentuate a male's features, tones down any discoloration (and, in some people's cases, acne and scarring), and is designed to treat men's faces during puberty and the time they develop facial hair whilst still allow them to feel more confident in their natural masculinity and handsomeness?
It's been done. :-)Â From former baseball player Alex Rodriguez, May 2021: https://www.premiumbeautynews.com/en/alex-rodriguez-is-launching-a-men,18542
More info, same time frame: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/arod-makeup-men-blur-stick/index.html
Use your favorite search engine and search "male cosmetics" or "male cosmetics line"Â :-)
I am a teacher in St. Paul- I would say several boys from k-5 paint their nails in each classroom. We have a lot of boys experiment with different hair dyes- bright colors and when we have spirit days some of our boys feel comfortable gender bending into cruella deville or their other favorite singers etc. this is my 16th year teaching, and my career has mostly been in urban places like the Bronx and south side Chicago so I don’t know how it is in red states or rural areas but in that time I’ve noticed that kids can really do anything without peer pushback. I have had students come out as trans from age 6-16 and maybe it’s bc it’s urban but peers and staff (and other parents) have all been supportive. Moreover there are many childrens books now that speak to showing up as your authentic self - whatever that may look like. In facing the struggles of gun and police violence and the aftermath of George Floyd there have been several new books that look at talking to young people about contemporary social issues that simply didn’t exist even ten years ago when I was in nyc and Eric garner was murdered by police. I’d rather have less violence than the books but we no longer bottle these things up, pretend kids aren’t old enough to understand or deal with what is happening in front their eyes or with themselves. Another thing we have done is look at how our Muslim students can show up at school- for example we no longer have crazy hair day during spirit week because our students wear the hijab and feel excluded. We have stopped celebrating Valentine’s Day too- this was controversial but it centers Christianity and classrooms chose to do a friendship day (which is in March) or this year many classrooms had a Winter Olympics festival instead.