You’re a boy, right?

This past Saturday I got back from a two-week road trip with the kids.

We were in St. Petersburg, Florida for a swim meet for the first part of our trip.

Number 3 and 4 were swimming in the meet, and Number 5, 6, and 7 lucked out and came along for the ride.

While Number 3 and 4 were swimming, the little guys did a lot of playing on the playground near the pool, and they made a whole bunch of new friends.

About two months ago, out of nowhere, Number 7 all of a sudden decided she didn’t like the mostly pink and black wardrobe she had.

She has only worn dry-fit clothes for the past year or so because that’s the only style she likes. And she wanted her clothes to be pink.

Here she is on the left in one of her favorite pink outfits last summer:

But the typical “girl” styles and colors were no longer okay with her. She didn’t like the short running-style shorts anymore, either.

She wanted to wear “boy” clothes. She wanted longer shorts like her brother.

And no more pink.

A couple weeks before we left for our trip, Costco had some “boy” Adidas outfits for sale.

They were dry-fit material with longer shorts.

So I got two outfits for her to wear on vacation.

One was blue and black and the other was orange and grey.

She LOVED them.

And they were pretty much the only thing she wore while we were down south.

She loves those two outfits!

And that’s all I want for her. To feel confident and happy.

Because some kids at school have given Number 7 a little bit of a hard time about her “boy” sneakers. She wears red basketball sneakers. The same ones her brother wears. They are her favorite sneakers. I don’t really know why because she doesn’t even play basketball.

But she sure does love those red sneakers.

Kids ask her all the time why she wears “boy” shoes and “boy” clothes.

We talk about how to respond to those questions and comments.

How clothes are clothes. Not boy clothes and not girl clothes.

And people should wear what they love and feel good in.

I don’t think it really bothers her, because the comments from kids haven’t caused her to waiver with what she wears.

And she’s getting some good practice at sticking to her guns and doing what she likes, no matter what other people think or say.

But still.

You want kids to be nice to your kids and to be accepting of their differences and their preferences.

Number 7, like Number 4 was at the same age, is a total tomboy.

She’s a pretty tough kid, and a really good athlete. She’ll play outside all day long.

Tag, hide and seek, riding her bike, jumping on the pogo stick, riding her hoverboard, using the scooter, playing soccer or catch or building a teepee in the woods… she can’t get enough outside time. And her biggest complaint at home is usually that nobody will go outside and play with her.

So she was in her glory playing on the playground by the pool every day with whatever kids happened to be there during the swim meet.

On the third day of the meet, Number 7 told me this story.

She was playing with a bunch of kids, and one of the girls she was playing with asked Number 7 her name.

When Number 7 told her what it was, the girl said, “Wait, you’re a boy, right?”

When Number 7 told her she was a girl, the other little girl paused for a moment.

I waited for Number 7 to tell me what mean or hurtful thing the girl said to her.

“And you know what she said, Mom?” Number 7 asked me.

“What?” I replied.

“She said, ‘Why do boys get to wear the cool clothes?’!”

She had the biggest smile on her face. She was so proud of her clothes.

And I don’t know the point of this story, really.

Except to say that Number 7 had a really nice moment down in Florida where instead of being questioned for her choices in clothing she was admired by a pretty awesome and open minded little girl.

And that made me really happy.

Wanna look cute while you work out?

Wanna look cute while you don’t work out?

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