December 7th, 2010 | 
Author: My boyfriend freaks out when our 2 year old son dresses in girls clothes and puts on makeup with his sisters. He gets angry and wants to punish him. He says that he will grow to be a fag and allowing him to freely play this way only teaches him to be feminine. I disagree and feel that many young children do this and it shouldn’t be an issue.
It breaks my heart that my boyfriend would think this way. What would someone who has experience in early childhood development say to this?
It’s perfectly normal behavior. Kids need to try out all sorts of roles. When he gets to preschool he’ll probably move on to dressing up in more traditional "boys things". Your boyfriend can do real damage by making him feel guilty. What you can do is to offer him some more choices. The girls would benefit,too. Add some uniform pieces, some pieces of fabric and lots of job-related hats. I hope your boyfriend doesn’t get upset when one of the girls decides to dress up as a firefighter! And by the way, how a 2 year old dresses has nothing to do with his sexual identity and anyhow, why does it matter.
Posted in toddler girl clothes
of course not, your BF is homophobic. you want him to help you raise your kids?
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umm
i think its nice to play dress up once in a while
but if you grow up to make him into a mommas boy…its gonna affect him bigtime
little boys shouls spend time with dad too, not that hes gonna be a fag or anything, but i mean, what DECENT and non-gay man WANTS to put on womens clothes?? it may seem silly but thats a big chunk of dignity right there.
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This is so normal. It is not a big deal, he will eventually outgrow it. My son is going to be 5 in a couple of weeks and in just the last couple of months has decided that all girl things are gross. He was just playing with his sisters,it was nothing more than that to him. My little brother also dressed up with us, played barbies etc. when we were all growing and you can’t find a more manly man today. It is also normal for dads to be uncomfortable about it, but just explain to him that your son is just playing, it is as simple as that.
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I have to agree with your b/f to some extent on this one . If your son keeps doing this past the age of 2 then you have something to worry about . Please avoid this past the age of 2 . good luck .
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You do not learn to be gay. You are born that way. Let him dress up any way he wants to for play. What you worry about is if that is the type of clothes he want to go out in.
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I wouldn’t worry about it I have yet to see a kid in my family who didn’t try on moms shoes or grab make-up. Its an interest thing and most kids idolize mom so they want to do what mom does dispite sex. Eventually as he get a little older he’ll probably want to do what dad does. I see it as being okay. Your sons not even old enough to comprehend the difference between straight and gay. He’s just having fun. The socity we live in has caused us to be so pariod for ourselves and children.
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Life.
You do know that your boyfriend is a moron, right? Playing dress up is normal for kids…… Nothing wrong with it. So don’t worry about your son playing with his sisters, but do worry about your moron, uneducated boyfriend…… Have a good one
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Your boyfriend is most definitely out of tune with reality. In fact, little boys dressing up in girl cloths while playing is all part of finding his masculinity. Your boyfriend should be re-evaluated as your boyfriend for the main reason that it’s a fairly good chance that he has some serious hang-ups of his own steaming down from his child hood. let your son do his own growing up in a normal way as all (most) boys do and he’ll find his masculinity just fine.
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Is your little boy happy when he does this? Obviously, the answer sounds to be yes, and as a toddler, he’s doing something he enjoys, finds fun in, etc. There’s no harm in it, and even if it did make him grow up to be gay (which can’t be proven or disproven), there wouldn’t be anything wrong with that, either.
It sounds like the real problem here is your boyfriend. I’d re-think the way he handles your kids before he turns your son into a monster as he gets older (can you imagine having him hate gays when he is old enough to realize what that means? Or anyone else your boyfriend doesn’t like? That’s horrible.). Then you will have a REAL dilemna on your hands, so think about the future.
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He has sisters and that means hes going to want to play with what they are playing with. How would your boyfriend feel if the girls were playing with trucks? Would he want to punish him?
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It’s common. He shouldn’t punish him. Don’t make a big deal out of it, but don’t encourage it either. How about putting the dress-up clothes away for awhile and get them all involved in some other activities for play.
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think its normal especially if he has older sisters, my son at 2 would dress up in strange stuff, not girl stuff but whatever, he would put on my moms pumps and walk around with his pacifier, he is all boy, he is 17 now, i would not worry at 2 years old unless it continued much later, allow it for a bit, watch him, when he gets a bit older try to steer him towards boy things, right now he is 2 and wants to play and maybe this is what the girls are up to so he participates, he does not know the difference between boy and girl at the moment so relax.
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I wouldn’t punish it for him but if Dad disaproves then I would’nt alow it. Ya it kids don’t think anything of this kind of play but I wouldn’t want to encourage it either. In the same way kids get attached to clothes or certain outfits and want to wear them all the time everywere. I don’t think youd want to take your son to dinner wearing a dress.
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My 18 month old is always walking around in my shoes, but so is his older sister and he does everything she does! I don’t think its a problem, I just take lots of photos to show him when he is older!!!
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It’s perfectly normal behavior. Kids need to try out all sorts of roles. When he gets to preschool he’ll probably move on to dressing up in more traditional "boys things". Your boyfriend can do real damage by making him feel guilty. What you can do is to offer him some more choices. The girls would benefit,too. Add some uniform pieces, some pieces of fabric and lots of job-related hats. I hope your boyfriend doesn’t get upset when one of the girls decides to dress up as a firefighter! And by the way, how a 2 year old dresses has nothing to do with his sexual identity and anyhow, why does it matter.
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Over 25 years in Early Childhood Education.