A mother took to the web to let her emotions unfastened after receiving a impolite response from a good friend relating to her 1-year-old son.
One mother wrote to Reddit’s r/beyondthebump subreddit, which defines itself as “a spot for brand spanking new mother and father, new mother and father to be, and previous mother and father who wish to assist out.”
The mother ranted about sending her good friend a candy video of her 1-year-old son, solely to obtain a response that offended her.
“My 1-year-old son likes to take the comb out of my hand after I brush his hair, and do it himself,” the mother defined. She famous that whereas his high-quality motor expertise aren’t nice, she nonetheless thinks it’s cute that he desires to attempt doing one thing himself.
“I let him discover his independence for a bit, earlier than I end brushing his hair,” she acknowledged.
Hair brushing is an exercise that may assist toddlers develop their motor expertise, as famous by Dana, a pediatric occupational therapist, who supplied tips about hair brushing for younger children with sensory points.
The mother went on to say that she “recorded him whereas he is fortunately and proudly combing his hair and despatched the video to a good friend of mine.”
The good friend replied by saying, “Haha cute, however you should not brush his hair? He’ll develop as much as be womanish and girly, lol.” The mother was furious and confused by her good friend’s gender stereotyping, and questioned what “is that even presupposed to imply?”
Her good friend’s impolite response to the video of her son brushing his hair left her upset and confused.
She defined that her son has lengthy hair that will get tangled simply, then requested “Am I presupposed to let my son look tough and unkempt simply because he is a boy?”
She additionally requested in regards to the bigger query at hand, questioning, “Are males not presupposed to feel and look good and groomed simply because they’re males?”
Earlier than having a son, she by no means paid a lot consideration to the variations in how individuals spoke about girls and boys, however now she’s hyper-aware of the variance of attitudes round gender. She’s heard feedback like, “Do not child him a lot, he isn’t a lady, no person likes a mama’s boy.”
She identified how she’s seen “the tough dealing with of a boy versus comfortable dealing with of women, as a result of, effectively, boys are stronger than ladies.”
“I’ll undoubtedly deal with my son simply the identical means I might’ve taken care of him had he been born a lady,” the mother acknowledged.
The feedback left by others on the thread had been supportive of the mother and known as into query the concept of gendering conduct like brushing one’s hair.
“Shouldn’t anybody with hair brush it? How is that this a gender-specific factor?” questioned one particular person.
One other particular person commented that “pointlessly gendered issues… solely serve to strengthen and shrink the packing containers that we put gender stereotypes into.”
“That’s the poison we use on boys that develop into poisonous males,” famous another person. “Brush his hair and educate him hygiene and be pleased with who he’s.”
“He’s fortunate to have a mother that sees him as an entire particular person. And he is attending to take pleasure in growing these motor expertise whereas additionally establishing wholesome grooming habits. What’s to not love?!” Commented one other particular person.
Studying the way to brush one’s hair is a part of growing high-quality motor expertise whereas additionally studying literal self-care, which is a crucial think about growing younger children’ vanity.
One other mother of a son explains how she “actually can’t wait to color his nails if he asks and develop out his hair to place in braids and area buns and play gown up, in order that he is aware of that something he enjoys is limitless and never confined to gender.”
Gen Z’s beliefs on gender are extra fluid than previous generations. In line with a 2021 Gallup survey, 1.8% of Gen Z identifies as trans, the very best share of any residing technology.
As Gen Z ages into younger maturity and Generations Alpha and Beta are born and develop, these numbers are more likely to enhance, displaying that future generations will proceed to problem inflexible gender roles and definitions.
Alexandra Blogier is a author on YourTango’s information and leisure staff. She covers superstar gossip, popular culture evaluation and all issues to do with the leisure business.
