Jack would not be much of a gambler, due to his many tells. His latest tell is his embarrassment tell. He balls his hands up into fists and puts them next to his ears. I recently discovered this tell as we were shopping in Target looking for something very inexpensive on which he could spend his saved Tooth Fairy money.
He kept circling the Littlest Pet Shop aisle, but anytime someone approached he would ball his fists by his ears and make a bee line for the Star Wars figures. After alerting him for the fifth time that we only had 10 minutes, he was convinced the coast was clear and made it into the Littlest Pet Shop aisle undetected. He had a Littlest Pet Shop toy in his hand and was ready to head out when a girl walked into the aisle and spotted him.
I couldn't convince him she didn't pay any attention to him. I couldn't convince him she was doing her own shopping and couldn't care less what he had in his hand. In less than two seconds he had thrown that toy as far from his person as he could, grabbed a Mario toy, and headed for the check out.
In the car, I struck up a conversation about doing what you enjoyed and trying not to worry too much about what other people thought. "There are some toys that you may consider girl toys, like Littlest Pet Shop, that are fun and it's fine if you want to play with them. There are a lot of toys that are considered boy toys that a lot of girls like to play with, and they probably aren't embarrassed to go buy them."
"I guess so," he said, disappointed that he didn't have the toy he really wanted.
"You know those kids in your school, the ones that don't worry what other people think and have fun no matter what? They are the trendsetters and usually end up being the ones doing or playing with the thing that everyone else wants to do or play with. Maybe you can be one of those."
"One of what?"
"The trendsetters. The kids that don't care what other people think. The ones that have so much fun just being who they are and not worrying what everyone thinks, it makes everyone want to be like them. Because they're so cool."
"Yeah," he said. "Like magicians."
So maybe he won't be one of the cool kids. I just hope he's happy with who he ends up being.
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5 comments:
Can I borrow that speech for my boys? It's a work of genius.
What a cute story! I could just feel Jack's pain. I was never a trendsetter either, but I sure married one. :-)
My son is the youngest, with two older sisters. He has played with "girl toys" all his life...usually in a boy way, lol. He LOVES playing with my daughter's Polly Pockets and Littlest Pet Shop toys. SO my MIL bought him the boy Polly...he won't play with that one at all.
That is the sweetest story. I love that you didn't discourage from buying the "girl" toy like so many moms of boys do. It is even better that you used it as such an awesome teaching moment. I bet it is one of those lessons that sticks so well that when he's grown he will be telling his kids about that epiphany moment. Of coused, that will be the FIRST time you hear that he actually absorbed it! LOL!
Raising boys is as trip! You are doing it in style, Mom! xoxoxo
Aww. My little guy likes LPS too. And I agree with you. I loved little cars when I was a kid and never thought twice about it.
It's hard to find LPS pieces that aren't pink, isn't it? He's getting his first of his very own for Christmas -- has so far had to settle with playing with them at playdates.
Polly Pockets comes with cool cars, so that's pretty appealing too (as is the idea, for me, of him playing with toy PEOPLE, since he's often prone to avoid peronal interactions in real life in favor of animals, personified household objects, and so on) ... but Daddy will never go for that one.
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