Who knew?
Grace got a set of Potatoheads for Christmas, and we were enjoying playing with them together. She hands me a pair of blue pants and says, “you can have the dude pants, Mommy.” I was like, ok. Let’s see what happens if I take the dude pants and pair them with the long hair and red hat. She says “That hair is for girls!” (Btw I have zero idea where she even got these ideas, because we don’t call things “girl” this or “boy” that) So I say, “Boys can have long hair too.” And keep pushing it a little. So I put a mustache on next. She says again “only boys have mustaches, Mommy. You can’t put a mustache on a girl.” So I told her that anyone could have a mustache if they wanted one, and kept pushing it. I put on the eyes with makeup/eyelashes and the red lipstick lips (with the “dude pants,” long hair, red hat and mustache). So she’s looking at my potato head and says I can’t mix those things because they are for girls/boys. I tell her that people can choose to be girls/boys, or wear whatever clothing/facial hair/makeup either way. I also said that some people don’t feel like boys or girls, and that’s ok too. I said that it’s up to each person to decide who they are and what they like, and that only they can tell us who that is (and that we have to respect that, and acknowledge it). So she looks at my person for a minute, and picks up her person and asks “Are you a boy or girl?” I made mine say “I’m not either. I just like to look pretty.” And she says “I love your mustache!” 💕 I would have never thought in a million years that Mr. Potatohead would be the medium that led me to introduce my daughter to the idea of gender identity/nonconformity, but hey - it happened, and I think it went pretty well. Presenting information in a matter-of-fact way, being honest and answering all of the questions seems to be working out so far. 👍