A friend recently steered me towards J.Crew’s Facebook page, which had posted a link to one of their employee’s “weekend pick’s.” It sounds innocuous enough, right? Beyond colorful cardigans and sensible slacks, what could they include that would shock a handful of people?
Apparently, the staff member in question shared some photos of her hanging out with her son and painting his nails (in hot pink no less!). There were a few comments on the Facebook page that questioned why a young boy would want his nails painted and other comments sharing their disapproval.
One thing I have learned as the mother of a four year old, is that if the kid doesn’t want to do it, then it most likely isn’t going to get done… and it will certainly not be done with a huge, happy smile on his face as was seen in the photograph. We can safely assume that this young boy actually wanted his toenails painted.
And after all…is that such a stretch to not only believe, but accept as well? I sat there, reading the comments and shaking my head, thinking…yes! I should blog about this. But the more I thought about it, the more my head hurt. I just don’t get it. If somebody could explain it to me, I’m all ears.
Why would painting a boy’s toes personally offend somebody? I mean, I guess I can kind of understand the reasoning…but, then again, not really. I honestly don’t believe painting a boy’s toes will make him “any less a man” or hinder him in any way. Perhaps it’s because I witness this all first hand in my own household?
My son is certainly no stranger to nail painting, and has his nails painted more often then I do. Truthfully, I only get around to painting my toes when it’s bare feet weather, unless he pulls out the bag o’polish and urges me to “get pretty” with him.
He loves gazing down at his colorful toes while he exclaims how “awesome” or “beautiful” they are.
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| From Saturday morning when the living room was transformed into a nail salon |
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| I’d like to think I did a pretty good job, considering my lack of manicure skills |
Had somebody come in and taken a picture of us mid-morning on Saturday, the scene would have looked very similar to the J. Crew one. Granted, we went for more sparkle than brightness with our polish and my outfit was nowhere near as “casual chic” as Jenna’s, but there was lots of fun and laughter…two things I would never say are out of place for a little boy.
The Mamafesto 
I am fairly certain that these judgers who have a problem with boys wearing toe and nail polish find people and activities to raise their eyebrows at every day. Life is always so much more fun when there are bright colors, decorations, and glitter around. I hate to be a judger of judgers but they are party poopers!
My oldest guy loved painted toenails, courtesy of his godfather who painted his as well (& lived with us).Party poopers is the nice way to put it.
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My son also lives his nails painted. He is four and right now his toes ate black and his hands have a different color on each with crackle no less. He likes it and I see nothing wrong with it. My older son also liked his nails painted when he was little. He stopped wanting it when he went into school. I made him aware, that although I had no problem with it, he might be teased about it. He never was, but stopped shortly after anyway. I think he just wanted to do what mom did. It does look cool, after all.
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