Do you think they were right to ban him?

Does anyone else remember the story about a boy who wore a skirt to school as a protest because although girls were allowed to choose to wear skirts over bare legs in hot weather, boys weren't allowed to wear short trousers? There was no rule, quite rightly imo, that boys couldn't wear skirts.

And then there was a similar protest in Norway or Sweden where train drivers wore skirts in hot weather for the same reason.

Girls can wear 'boyish' clothes in pretty much all circumstances nowadays but the reaction to this boy's preferences shows that we don't extend the same freedom to boys. I ask why not?

I daresay similar arguments were put forward when women first started wearing trousers for practical reasons as are being put forward about boys wearing dresses. Why should wearing a dress when you are five matter when you are a grown up? Why should males wearing dresses matter at all?

Why shouldn't a boy wear a dress to playgroup one day a week? Why should he limit his dress-wearing to at home? Sorry, but I don't see a good reason; I only see prejudice.

As for the publicity now mattering when he's an adult, it's possible, but it's also possible that it won't matter in the least. By then he might just laugh about it (if he even remembers) or he might have decided he's a woman.

100 dresses is certainly a lot. I expect the queen and a good number of celebs have more and that very few people mind.

I guess in the end I find the judgmental negativity on this thread the most disturbing thing.

I guess I prefer a more tolerant and easy-going acceptance of eccentricity if it isn't intrinsically harmful, which this isn't.

Goodness me, it doesn't matter how hard I try to be good somehow I always manage to wind things up completely unintentionally.

1. I don't care how many dresses he has 1,000,000 if they want and can afford them. All I said was my three DD's didn't have 100 dresses between them and they probably still don't. I made their clothes under sufferance so a little had to go a long way.
2. On the face of it I don't think he should have been banned but there is probably much more to the situation than I know or want to know for that matter.
3. Mostly I am shocked that a mother would put her son through this. Yes, she has the right to so do, but how could she?

Its quite amazing really, my family won't allow photographs of the children on FB or here in case someone 'not nice' sees them yet other mums go completely the other way.

Off to hide under my duvet for a while

Only if you promise to sing the song all day Nonu

I can't stop singing it myself now!

Perhaps if he'd just worn an ordinary dress, and ordinary shoes meant for girls, it would have been acceptable by the after-school club. It does seem that he went fully rigged-out in trailing net and high heels, tiara and all.

Maybe the organisers wanted to avoid 'dressing up competitiveness' among the rest of the children? We'll probably never know...

How do we even know the child is aware of the publicity, other than having his photo taken?

AGUS [got it right this time] I do rather like Shania !

DEB

The after school play organisers could just have suggested a kilt.

But a kilt is not a skirt Elegran worn only by females.

Peggy Lee version for me Nonu

Now she is one amazing lady, we take her on holiday to play in car and have a good old sing-along.

Crazy or what!

:-)

Agus and Nonu ashamed to admit you have both lost me but feel sure I would have preferred Peggy Lee's version

Go back to AGUS post of 12.00 , Hon.

Maybe something we could start another thread on

:-)
:-)

Perhaps the trailing net and high heels were considered unwise for health and safety reasons. Just wondering ...

I do remember when DD1 and her BF campaigned for girls to be allowed to wear trousers in the 6th form at their school, a campaign which was successful. Now, of course, many schools allow girls of all ages to wear trousers.
And I also remember when little boys always had to wear shorts, even in very freezing cold winters, until they were about 11 or 12. Girls had to wear gymslips or short skirts with knee-length woollen socks and garters to hold the socks up which were either too loose and the socks fell down or too tight and cut into your legs.

I think the child is being used as a pawn in all this, and he is a complete innocent. I find that rather sad and quite disturbing.

I agree that the trailing net and high heels are not suitable for an after school club for boys or girls.

the light has dawned

Gives a whole new meaning to "drag" queen.

thatbags (now we will get told off for laughing). Not laughing at the innocent child, just thatbags' s comment I hasten to add.

everyone on here seems to [thankfully] have the little boy's interests at heart and that's why we say it's a bad idea to go to after school club dressed up like a fairytale princess. Even the little girls there may well gawp, let alone the boys.If we lived in a perfect world then we could all dress up as we liked, but common sense prevents most of us from going out dressed to be stared at or worse.It's probably all a storm in a teacup,
but at the same time, we all do have to learn at some point to dress in an appropriate way, simply because we need to live in the world and be an accepted part of it.To think any other way is rather a 'I'd like to teach the world to sing' la-lala kind of wishful thinking.That is not being negative, mean, or small minded before somebody jumps in eagerly to say that, it's just a realistic view of the world. This little boy enjoys dressing in sparkly dresses and high heels , at home is fine for that, but not out anywhere, unless you want to make him look a spectacle for others amusement.The Mothers view is 'I'm fine with that, you should be fine with that' but [perhaps sadly] the world will not be fine with it, and it's naive to expect it to be.

I think the little girls at the club would be quite happy to play girly games with him.

That might not sound quite right.

I meant they would be happy to allow him to join in with their girly games.

He is a very sweet little boy. Reminds me of Simon on Coronation Street.