SO, I don’t know about you but this summer has been the summer of zero f**cks. I’m pregnant. I’m exhausted. And it’s beginning to really sink in that this is our last summer with little Carlos as an only child.
I decided early on-or my exhausted body decided for me-that I was running a different program this summer. My parenting style has drastically changed over the past few months, to say the least. I will agree to almost anything to keep my child entertained and happy.ANYTHING.I’m in survival mode.
There’s been a lot of free play, lax rules and not much of a schedule and you know what, I’m sort of becoming ok with it. Sometimes it’s nice just to have fun and not be so weighed down with all the things that we are “supposed” to be doing as parents.
The other day I was giving myself a pedicure because, let’s be honest, I’ve given up on all beauty upkeep that can’t take place in the privacy of my home. It’s way too hot out for me to venture anywhere that isn’t absolutely necessary, like Baskin Robbins or Taco Bell. Just taking a shower is an accomplishment these days.
Carlos wanted to help me paint my toes and I thought, “score,” a chance for me to sit down And an activity for him. He was intrigued by what I was doing and begged me to paint his also. Maybe it’s bad parenting to let your son paint his toenails but I really just didn’t see the big deal. I told him he could paint his big toes only and we would remove it later that day.
Well, my pregnancy brain forgot and today he came home from school and said a boy at his camp was making fun of him because of his pink toes and was calling him a girl.
Kids are such little shits.
Can’t anyone have innocent fun anymore?
Yes, painting my child’s toes pink is silly and I guess I thought it would just be treated as just that; silly. I didn’t realize he would be made fun of because his mom let him partake in her beauty regiment.
To be clear, my son is all boy. He loves trucks, rocks and bugs (ewwww). He dresses up as super heroes, wants to roll in the mud and goes snake hunting every night. But that’s not my justification for painting his toes. It wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t all boy. I would be A-OK if he wanted to try on my dresses and have a mother flippin’ tea party every afternoon. He’s 4. And I don’t think we need to make our toddlers feel bad because they are interested in something that doesn’t fit their “gender identity” at this age. It’s just too much. I want him to be creative and imaginative and think things are beautiful- simply because they are beautiful-not because society says he should think a certain way. He has his whole life to “be a man” and “man up” so right now, I just want him to be a kid. And nail polish is cool and interesting and different to them. Why wouldn’t he want to try some?
I asked him how he handled the situation, because I was secretly hoping he drop kicked the nail polish nazi. He said he told him that “he is a boy, not a girl and that his mommy painted them and he thinks they look beautiful” then he walked away.
Kids are so level headed. It’s the parents that are insane.
I was so proud of my little man and him owning his pink toes. The whole incident bothered me ten times more than it bothered him.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that I must be doing something right in my slacker parenting this summer because my child is happy, relaxed and can hold his own against the “nail polish police.”
I would call that a win.
But I am still trying to figure out who this kid is so I can send him home a care package full of OPI’s new summer line…..
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