I love my sons, they each have such different personalities and tastes. My oldest is very active and enjoys parkour, video games, reading and writing. My youngest is very empathetic and enjoys low key video games, reading, animals and legos.

My youngest ask for nail polish like mine a while ago and I figured it is harmless, if it makes him happy and it doesn’t hurt anyone I would do it. He proudly sported blue nail polish until it wore off though he was frantic at the thought of going to school and having particular people notice because he said they were mean and would make fun of him.

I used that fear to make a teaching moment that I wish I had when I was younger, also at the age of 7. If it makes you happy and feel good about yourself, it does not matter what other people think. You want a temp mohawk with blue gel, awesome, just don’t complain when I have to wash your hair, nail polish, cool what color buddy?

Long ago, should be the days we tells boys and girls they can’t do something because it is for the other gender only. I was a tom boy when I was growing up and my dad taught me how to work on cars and build things. Those skills have been mostly forgotten since MS has wreaked havoc on my brain but I am glad I had them.

I would much rather let my son learn to love himself at a young age and explore things now while he is young than wait until his a teenager and start rebelling because he doesn’t feel accepted as he is at home.

What do you think, should we let our kids be kids and love themselves or make them feel weird for behaving “outside the norm”?