"A bit young?"

[ailbhe]

I was in Lush buying secret gifts for my seven-year-old, and chatting to the staff who were helping me choose and pay for the things I got. I said she'd circled every single thing in the catalogue, which they found amusing, and then I said "It's difficult being my daughter, I don't do things like this [indicate mounds of Smelly Pampering Things], but she's experimenting with expressions of femininity."

The woman at the till said "A bit young, isn't she?"

I was amazed. I said something about children playing princesses and Barbie and things, but I was very taken aback. I move in such a bubble that I forget people are unaware of how gender-expression is played out and trained in, I think.

Comments

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

Holly has been feminine since she was about 9 months old & wore a fairy babygro type outfit with wings (put on by me, but not bought by me) to a friend's 2nd birthday party & realised that she received more attention than the birthday girl from the adults (& older children) That still extends to today, as she wore a cerise pink crushed silk party dress to a friend's birthday party last week & received the most admiring comments. I wanted to buy the teal one to compliment her hair colour, but she wanted pink :(