To put my boy in girls clothes sometimes

[hibbledibble]

He is a toddler, so doesn't care. I have lots of lovely clothes and that aren't overly girly. Is it ok to put him in these?

I'm not thinking floral dresses, but pink vests (under his clothes), a navy jacket in a 'girl' cut, red shoes. I think it's ok, but I am meeting resistance from others.

He has beautiful long lashes, and people often think he is a girl whatever he is wearing, but I don't see this as an issue.

Make sure he's not photographed as in 10 years time he might have the pissed ripped out of him by his friends.
He'll be able to cope with the piss take when he is 18 but not when he is 11.

@Rocinante39

Make sure he's not photographed as in 10 years time he might have the pissed ripped out of him by his friends. He'll be able to cope with the piss take when he is 18 but not when he is 11.

So everyone should raise their children to the standards of the lowest common denominator so they’re all needlessly gender-focussed, bullying shits rather than individuals who respect personal tastes and freedoms?

My 4 year old boy often wears his big sisters hand me downs and he went to nursery with an Anna and elsa backpack until his gender strict dad got him a dinosaur one. I don't see the issue, if he's happy wearing the clothes let him

Unless the clothes have some sort of requirement for a willy or a fanjo you can dress them in anything you like. My nephew went to school in pretty girls shoes for a few years as hand me downs from my eldest daughter

@Rocinante39 does your 11 year old often sit and share pictures of himself as a toddler with his school friends? How strange.

I've noticed over the years as my son's been growing up, that loads of men wear pink shirts (eg teachers) and its fine. In fact I am now aware of no fewer than three public schools where pink is a school colour - think pink rugby shirts. Nothing wrong with it.

The constant and total gendering of babies and children's clothing absolutely appals me.

Clearly it's not so clear cut, and a lot of people here have issues with boys not wearing strictly boy's clothes! It's family that have issues with this.

Of course gender barriers need to be broken down, but don't make your young children the foot soldiers of this battle. That is just cruel.

I love the only on MN accusation. MNers are rl people too you realise?

I have a 13yo girl and a 9yo boy and DS still wears his sister's hand me downs. Also, he has long hair and his big sister shaves her head. He and his best mate wear cardigans to school and all the other boys wear jumpers. They love them. They have pockets fgs. What child doesn't want a pocket for a rock, a twig and a caterpillar on a leaf?

DH wears plenty of pink shirts, floral ties, bright shoes. He also wears a pocket square and a funky waistcoat most of the time too. I often wear a tux when DH and I go out. The children are used to us wearing what we like and not conforming particularly so it's their norm.

As long as they're fit for purpose, the children wear what they like. DS has never been teased. Interestingly, it's the teenage girl with the shaved head who wears the boys uniform (because she doesn't want to wear a skirt to do PE), who gets called a "tranny" and a "lesbo". 9yo DS wears hot pink trainers for PE and his mates think he's cool.

@SmudgeButt

Tell him to look at the art company

Shoes are the one item you should not hand down unless your child would go shoeless. Everyone walks differently and a shoe moulds to your foot.

Clearly it's not so clear cut, and a lot of people here have issues with boys not wearing strictly boy's clothes!

No issue with boys not wearing 'strictly boy's clothes' here. Just in my experience there's a big difference between parents who dress their children in any old fairly unisex, not horrifyingly gendered clothing and those parents who feel the need to dress their child is quite evidently strongly gendered clothing (usually whilst claiming they're so surprised anyone would think highly gender coded clothing links to the gender that they're marketed for).

The first group dress their kids how they see fit and get on with their lives because life is too short to worry. Their children wear all sorts of clothes and nobody bats an eyelid.

The second group seem to enjoy the attention because they always seem to have stories about how 'someone misgendered my baby whilst they were wearing clearly gendered clothing'. Naturally the story has to come with fake naivety where the parent has absolutely no idea how someone thought a baby dressed in a pink unicorn cardigan / blue jumper saying'daddy's little man' could possibly be considered to be gendered. It's eye rollingly cringe worthy and suggests they're attention seeking or wanting to collect woke points.