I know that you got somehow worried about your 4
year old grandchild wanting to go with a skirt to the kindergarten. I believe
there is no reason to be worried about it as you and I were just raised in a
much more conservative environment than where your grandchild is. Maybe I was
skeptical at the beginning when he insisted to wear a skirt and his soccer T-shirt,
but I realized that equality of genders starts at home and even better if it
starts while one is still a child. I am not saying that wearing a skirt is good
or bad for children at this age, when innocence is the overall rule and “sexualism”
is absolutely absent. But we have to understand that in the developed world
there are places where male workers voluntarily wear skirts at work (link) just
because they are more comfortable, and this does not necessarily compromise any
sexual preference if this is the reason of your concern.
Train drivers in Sweden. Photo source http://infinitelegroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sweden-skirt-infinitelegroom-3.png
I do not have to mention that the typical dress
for men in Scotland is a skirt, and I do not think there is a single lady in
this world that will find less attractive or question the sexuality of Sean Connery
if he is to be found walking around in his skirt.
Maybe your grandchild will flush or simply
laugh about when I take his pictures out at his wedding showing him dressed with
his Maya the bee skirt and his soccer T-shirt.
Through the eyes of his parents and those from many
other people, this is just a phase that makes him even more sweet and innocent
than what he already is. Something to respect about him is how he independently
chooses and has the initiative to wear something like that. This power of
choice was not inherited from his father who at this age was always a conformist
and weak-minded when it was about making own-decisions.
How the parents of your grandchild think and
accept this situation comes pretty much hand in hand with a very strong social
movement to achieve equality of genders at all levels. There is increasing awareness
in Europe (and hopefully all over the world) that women should be treated
equally to men. For example, by getting paid for the same job as it is known
that women are underpaid compared to male co-workers. This is unfair as we all
know that in many instances it is women who “wear the trousers” (to put it in
an understandable words that are still discriminatory) at work or home.
In this same line, a paid parental leave at
work after a son or a daughter is born is mainly taken by women, with only few
fathers daring to take this time off to take care of their kids.
From my side, I feel lucky when I am able to play
the role of “housewife” (I did not found a valid equivalent word for the male
counterpart and I find that offending). I do not only enjoy this time but I
also believe that is the correct thing to do after typically mothers (and
grandmothers) have to be fully engaged
taking care of the children, even at the expense of their own careers.
I hope I can thwart somehow this situation at
home with a paid paternal leave that I was allowed to take thanks to the
Austrian system and the good spirit of the company where I work. These two
months are typical for fathers who stay at home but still much less compared to
the invested time of mothers.
I hope I could clarify dear mother your
thoughts and worries by explaining why your 4 year old grandchild and 37 year
old child sometimes choose to wear the apron. Gender equality could be achieved
already at very young or older ages. I also send you a big hug while I still
can before your second grandchild wakes up and demands for his fruits that are
not yet cut.
Your son.
