Hello Kitty

This is my [LATE] contribution to the Fem Friday hosted by my dear friend Transatlantic Blonde.  I am totally piggy backing off of her entry too, gender and colors.  Everyone thought Parker was a girl when he was an infant.  He wore gender neutral clothes as well as boy specific clothes....it really didn't matter, everyone thought he was a girl.  I think it is because he has such big blue eyes.....but I don't really know.  Fast forward.  He is 3 when he starts loving socks with prints on them.  He still loves socks with prints on them (thanks goodness for the dollar spot at Target!).  When he was about 3, he fell in love with Hello Kitty socks.  We had to have every pair in the dollar spot.  He picked out some for him, his friend Elysia, and of course Yang Yang (she loves Hello Kitty as well).  He would only wear his Hello Kitty socks for a while.  No other sock.  No one has really said anything negative about his pink striped socks with the kitty on the side.....well, I should rephrase that, no one has ever said anything to me about it.  My family and friends know that if they did, they would hear an ear full about how they are just socks.  Not a big deal.  Socks go on your feet and he picked them out because he likes them hence no big deal.  I would much rather my son still wear Hello Kitty socks than a shirt that has guns on it or wearing any war time paraphernalia.  I would rather his socks be pink than he only have sports stuff in his dresser.  I would rather him have some color in his wardrobe than all the dark blues and greens, grays and blacks that little boys clothes offer.  Once boys are out of toddler sizing, everything is dark, it is really irritating.  But anyway.  Recently we were at the park and Parker was swinging.  Another little boy was next to us who was one year older than Parker.  He looks at Parker and says, "If you are a boy than why do you have Hello Kitty socks on?"  I held my breathe.  We had talked about this before....once.  Only once did he tell me about someone at his daycare not liking his socks, but I think his popularity made it a non issue.  Being 5 is a little different than being 4.  He has changed already, he is playing different and his toy and movie interests are different, I wondered, could this other older boy change Parker's opinion of the socks he loves so much?  I bit my tongue to not defend him and answer immediately.  Parker looked at the other boy and said, "Because I like them.  I don't play with the toys but I really like the socks."  And that was it.  The other boy took Parker's answer and was fine with it.  Parker stood up for what he likes and didn't care about the opinion of another child.  I smiled.

When he was an infant, I would defend the clothes that I chose for him.  Now, he picks a lot of the items I buy for him.  There are some restrictions, but based on the number of Super Hero shirts he has, you can guess that he choses a lot.  He knows what he likes and he knows that his Hello Kitty socks specifically are not the "norm" for little boys, he is okay with wearing them and isn't shy about telling other people why his socks are pink.  And like I said earlier....they are just socks.....everyone who doesn't like it can get over it.