I’m not what you’d call a girly-girl. Never have been. Also don’t often get confused with a guy; could be the plentiful hair & boob combo. I wear dresses occasionally and skirts mostly in the summer, when it is too hot for jeans. I work in a male-dominated area of publishing, I love gadgets, I snowboard… And my husband is also (not surprisingly since he married me) not all into “traditional” gender roles. His hair is longer (and curlier) than mine and he digs that we enjoy going to car shows together.
So why, oh why does my three year old not want to wear anything other than a dress and tights (leggings will not do!)? Why is it a punishment to ask her to wear jeans? Why did she want a bra so badly–ya, that’s right, I said a bra–that I had to go out and get her some lovely camisoles and tell her they are the little girl equivalent? The other day we were at Amanda’s and my daughter was wearing her favorite wee camisole that features Cinderella and I prompted her to show it to Amanda (hey, we’re all girls here) and after cooing that it was, in fact, adorable Amanda wisely wondered why on earth such a thing exists. Uh, because 3 year old girls who only get to watch about 30 minutes of TV a day, none of which includes the Bratz or MTV, are asking for them, that’s why!
The hyper-feminine child thing isn’t really a problem, I suppose. Except, perhaps, for weather- and certain activity-related issues. And I shouldn’t pout over the adorable cords or other pants I’ve bought, which sit idol in my daughter’s drawer. More than anything, I’m just baffled. We parents may think we influence these things, but I wonder how much we do. Perhaps I am influencing her in subtle ways or maybe it is all the positive feedback she gets from friends and strangers alike when she’s wearing a dress. In any case, there won’t be any pants under the tree this year; I got the word out to Santa that we’ve got a girly-girl in our house. Of course I just may be able to get her into snow pants to use that snowboard she asked Santa for…
December 11, 2007 at 8:30 pm
If there’s one thing in this world I hate, it’s tights, hose, etc. Which is probably why I’ve been given two girly girls who LOVE LOVE LOVE their tights. I don’t know if they’re solifying their “girlness” in their own minds but I can’t imagine why you’d want to wear those things if you didn’t have to. Sigh. Oh well. At least they’re fairly cheap.