dress up for son????

[sbastin02]

We are going tomorrow for the day to Disney World. I told my daughter to pick a princess dress so she can wear it for a little bit in the park. She is 4 years and my son is 2.5 years. He loves to play dress up with his sister. She brought in her dress and then he came in with his "mommy, I wear this dress at disney tomorrow" My inlaws are coming and my FIL will not let my son wear a dress in public? But my son will be hear broken if he sees his sister dressed up and not him. They do have disney shirts which they are wearing.

 

[JediBonas]

We are going tomorrow for the day to Disney World. I told my daughter to pick a princess dress so she can wear it for a little bit in the park. She is 4 years and my son is 2.5 years. He loves to play dress up with his sister. She brought in her dress and then he came in with his "mommy, I wear this dress at disney tomorrow" My inlaws are coming and my FIL will not let my son wear a dress in public? But my son will be hear broken if he sees his sister dressed up and not him. They do have disney shirts which they are wearing.

Honestly, I'd let me son wear a dress. If your inlaws have a problem with it I'd say it's their problem. Mine have made some remarks about me painting my son's nails but if he sees his sister getting it done and he wants to who cares?

 

[sbastin02]

Honestly, I'd let me son wear a dress. If your inlaws have a problem with it I'd say it's their problem. Mine have made some remarks about me painting my son's nails but if he sees his sister getting it done and he wants to who cares?

Oh yeah, they hate the nail polish. Sad thing is my hubby and me have said something to them about it. I guess I will bring it and see if he really wants it with the other exciting stuff grandma and grandpa will buy them.

 

[SweetMissy]

It's not up to your FIL. You're the parent, if you want to allow your son to wear a dress, than go for it! My son is 2 and occasionally will, with the help of his sister put on a dress (or girly hair accessories) and I think it's hilarious, we take pics and he'll "love" it when he's 18, lol. If your FIL is an ignorant bigot like mine, I can understand your annoyance. Oh and my 10 year old also occasionally dresses in dresses (at home, for like 30 seconds)....just something fun for them to do.

 

[worm761]

I agree that it isn't your in-laws call. BUT I also know what it is like to have to "play nice" with them too. My MIL and I don't get along. She hates me and hates my parenting style.

With that said, maybe to keep the peace you could get your son a more traditional "boy" costume to wear. Dressing up is dressing up. It is fun for little kids. And I have never been one for gender roles either. Bought my son a kitchen playset and a baby doll the same year. LOL....But to keep the peace I would just promise him a new costume at Disney. They have pirate costumes and maybe some others. Not really sure since my DS is almost an adult

 

[taylor3297]

I would let me son wear the dress. We don't care what people think.

Now if you think FIL is going to cause a ruckus then how about a pirate costume for him? This way he can dress up too. Or dress up like Terrance from the Tinkerbell movies.

Nothing worse than trying to enjoy a vacation and have a relative cause a ruckus.

 

[JillyBean1899]

Too bad there isn't more notice. I'd say take a green t-shirt and paint an eyeball on it. BAM, instant Mike costume

Will there be a day your FIL won't be with you? If so, I'd recommend holding off on *ANY* costumes until that day (or go to the barbershop and get their hair done, so they're still "dressed up" somewhat), that way your son can wear what he wants without snide comments or sideways glares from grandpa.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Do you have a cape where he could be the prince to go with his sister princess? Maybe the promise of buying him a pirate costume first thing upon arrival at the park.

 

[bumbershoot]

Do you have a cape where he could be the prince to go with his sister princess? Maybe the promise of buying him a pirate costume first thing upon arrival at the park.

When he plays dress-up, does he have other things he likes to put on? My guy had so many little go-to outfits. Pirate, Buzz, etc...not official costumes, but just things he put on that made him feel like that person. Could he be a knight, a prince, etc? Is there a way to make everyone happy?

Not to mention...princess dresses tend to be scratchy and hot...

 

[hethry6207]

We worried about our upcoming trip because I bought tons of princess dresses on etsy for our girls but there only seemed to be cute shirts for our son. I found a lady who made us an awesome jake costume. We also found a tonto costume at our local disney store. There are lots of options out there for cute boy themes too. Our kids are almost 2.5 so they all want what the other one has on, but for us it's a big deal to make sure our son has some special stuff for him too. Why should princesses get to have all the fun?

Good luck! Hope you guys have a great trip!

 

[Schmeck]

I agree that it isn't your in-laws call. BUT I also know what it is like to have to "play nice" with them too. My MIL and I don't get along. She hates me and hates my parenting style.

With that said, maybe to keep the peace you could get your son a more traditional "boy" costume to wear. Dressing up is dressing up. It is fun for little kids. And I have never been one for gender roles either. Bought my son a kitchen playset and a baby doll the same year. LOL....But to keep the peace I would just promise him a new costume at Disney. They have pirate costumes and maybe some others. Not really sure since my DS is almost an adult

Please don't do this - don't 'play nice' with the inlaws over this issue. The son does not need to get the message that it is not OK to dress a certain way in front of a certain person. Why can't grandpa love him just the way he is? Why does he have to not wear the princess dress to be OK with grandpa?

There is peace, and then there is peaceful repression. Grandpa can keep his mouth shut and there will be peace.

 

[MandiC]

Honestly this could be really embarrassing for him when he is older. A 2 year old has no idea who they are going to be in the future and if he looks back on family pictures when he is in his teens and he is in a princess dress he could be mortified. I'd personally go with more traditional boy dress up. Prince, knight, pirate, ect. I definitely would get dress up outfits for my boys if their sisters were going to be dressing up though, he just wants in on the fun

 

[mjkacmom]

I would get him his own dress up stuff, but not because of FIL. I'd worry that other small children would say unkind things.

Disclaimer - ds11, being a twin, with a sister less than 2 years older than him, was dressed up a lot. I have tons of pictures of him in tutu's, princess costumes, high heels... And I'm guilty of, when they were babies, dressing him as the girl, and dressing dd11 as the boy, since he had beautiful bouncy curls, and she was bald (I liked doing his hair ).

In our home, it's a safe place, and no one is making fun of anyone (mostly). But young kids don't have a big filter.

 

[JillyBean1899]

If you're worried about what kids might say to him in the parks, bring an extra set of clothes for him to change into just in case. At his age, most kids might comment on it, but the vast majority of them won't have learned that it's "wrong" for a boy to wear "girl's clothes".

Parents, on the other hand ... :

Oh, and if I saw him in the park dressed like a princess, I'd totally ask him for his autograph and a picture.

Just remember ... those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

 

[crisi]

As the mother of a teen son who played dressup and we didn't care - really don't do it. Not in public. He is likely to be MORTIFIED later in life. Toddlers don't have gender issues - but teen boys often do, and family pictures with him in a princess dress when he is thirteen or fourteen are likely to cause future dismay. And anything you can do today to keep the incrimations of "Mom!" down when he is a teenager and keep the trust up (I don't trust you, you let me dress like a princess) is not good.

Get him a pirate costume. Or a cape for Prince Charming. Or Peter Pan. Or Hercules. Buzz or Woody. Since its tomorrow, you might need something you can sew together quickly or something from your local party shop.

 

[Fantastic4]

I'm just curious if he dresses up in princess dresses because he WANTS to or because he doesn't have super hero, knights, etc stuff of his own to dress up in?

 

[ajwolfe]

Honestly this could be really embarrassing for him when he is older. A 2 year old has no idea who they are going to be in the future and if he looks back on family pictures when he is in his teens and he is in a princess dress he could be mortified. I'd personally go with more traditional boy dress up. Prince, knight, pirate, ect. I definitely would get dress up outfits for my boys if their sisters were going to be dressing up though, he just wants in on the fun

Ditto..Plus I think it's very likely that other kids could comment and hurt his feelings in the park. Personally I don't see a reason to make a big deal out of this when there are so many awesome costumes for boys.

 

[bumbershoot]

At his age, most kids might comment on it, but the vast majority of them won't have learned that it's "wrong" for a boy to wear "girl's clothes".

Just remember ... those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

My son had beautiful wonderful curls. Amazing hair. The one group that consistently gave him crud about it was the other, same age, kids at the playgrounds. He was only 2 when I went to get the front trimmed and got a hairdresser who said "I don't believe in long hair for boys" just as she cut in just the wrong place for what I had asked her to do (which then became my horrible decision of "you messed it all up so just cut it off") so this was going on from when he was in the later 1s and early 2s.

These kids were his peers. And they wouldn't play with him because of it. And commented. And questioned. By the time of the trim-turned-cut he was feeling really self conscious about it. At 2. Peer groups can be rough!

 

[Schmeck]

Honestly this could be really embarrassing for him when he is older. A 2 year old has no idea who they are going to be in the future and if he looks back on family pictures when he is in his teens and he is in a princess dress he could be mortified. I'd personally go with more traditional boy dress up. Prince, knight, pirate, ect. I definitely would get dress up outfits for my boys if their sisters were going to be dressing up though, he just wants in on the fun

It's only embarrassing later if the parents make an issue out of gender roles. So what if he wears a princess dress at age 2????? Does that make him an ax murderer?

 

[Schmeck]

Ditto..Plus I think it's very likely that other kids could comment and hurt his feelings in the park. Personally I don't see a reason to make a big deal out of this when there are so many awesome costumes for boys.

Someone would dare make an unkind comment? If someone did so in front of me, they'd get a comment right back - and it would sting.

Why do we have to make judgments and unkind comments about a 2 year old? For goodness sake, let them be kids and have fun. Why can't we teach our kids to be happy and free and nonjudgmental? Some parents stink at being parents, I guess.