This past Friday our dear friend Lana took Jude and I (along with her two monkeys) to see Caspar Babypants at the Federal Way library. For those parents not acquainted with the wonderful world of Babypants, check him (and his fellows) out. He is Chris Ballew of Presidents fame, so that may ring a bell for some of you, especially the local Seattleites. If not, it doesn't matter, your toddler won't care if you reference your teenage years when discussing their current musical tastes.
The point of this post isn't actually to talk about Babypants (that's just an added bonus really), it's to mention something I saw at the show.
Unfortunately Jude was not feeling well that morning and sat on my lap through most of the show (Jude hardly ever gets sick so I think the universe is making up for it this month by plaguing the little guy with everything all at once) so I had time to glance around and observe other parents and their children. Normally this leads to thoughts of how inept most people are at raising children. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but in today's society it's really not that hard to be above the average, which is terribly sad, and horribly frightening when you consider our future depends on these kids...
And if I go off on that tangent this will most definitely not be a short post. So back to it. Observing, noticing, yeah.
There was a boy there, probably about 4 years old, with his father and younger brother (maybe 6 months old). Average looking kid, behaving well, not making any sort of nuisance of himself, in most ways unremarkable (not to say he's not amazing, hell, the kid could be the next Einstein for all I know, I just mean I didn't interact with him so that brief period of time and what I could view on the outside is all I've got). The child stood out to me for one reason only. His shoes:
Yup, awesome. I can't say if those were the exact shoes he was wearing, but you get the idea. They were very worn, missing sequins, obviously loved and deeply appreciated. I saw this and smiled, and my heart smiled even wider. Here was a child who was not being forced to live inside a box. Whose parents didn't care what other people think, or are at least were willing to push their own feelings aside in order to allow their little boy some freedom of self-expression. Now, of course, I don't know any of the specifics of their story. I could be wrong and those shoes are his cousins that got left behind at a play date and his were lost and his father was in a hurry so they just grabbed them and ran... but I doubt it.
Some people may try to read into this little boys choice of shoes, I won't for two reasons. First, it doesn't matter. You can say it's a sign he'll grow up to be Gay, and so what? It's none of our business if he does and being a supporter of equal rights to ALL I wouldn't care anyway. I could also point out that he may grow up to be a dancer, a straight one even, so there. Second, children don't necessarily subscribe to the same gender expectations we do. Their gray area is far larger than ours so don't be too quick to jump to conclusions where sexuality is concerned. They don't even know what sex is yet, so lay off and let them be kids. Quit picking them apart like they're some sort of sociology assignment.
But I digress.
So, to the parents of that little boy, even though they aren't likely to ever see my meager little blog, you get a gold star in my book. Thank you for reminding me, the pessimist that I am, that there are still parents out there that rock.
No comments:
Post a Comment