Little Boys and Kilts

[BozemanboB]

Walking about town, frequently I can stop a little boy's ramble mid-stream; I'm talking the 5 - 7 year olds. He sees me walk around a corner and goes from endless babbling about whatever little boys babble about (as little boys sometimes do) to dead-silent, arms hanging at his sides, staring at me and sort of pivoting on his feet as I walk by. Then I hear "Mommy, why was that man wea..."

Asked my wife about that once, and she concluded: "Boys that age are just starting to figure out the whole gender thing. Mom isn't made like they are, they are like Dad, Dad is a man, so they will be a man. And then YOU walk around the corner wearing a skirt and they have to start over with the whole thing!" (She says skirt in a funny/sarcastic/that's-how-the-kid-sees-it kind of way.)

Now when I see little boys I always look at them and smile 'cause I know what's going through their stuggling little heads! I consider that I'm doing them a favor by expanding their universe a little bit...


boB

[Riverkilt]

Sometimes they seem frozen as they stand and stare. Sadly, I've seen mothers and big sisters grab them by the arm and physically jerk them away from their curiousity.

A toast to the mothers and fathers that bring them over to ask about the kilt.

Ron

[Roan Carter]

Lol. Little boys can be really mean sometimes, too.

But one time, a little girl pointed at me and said "IT'S A GIRL-BOY!" in the Ingles front entrance. Her mom pulled her on and shushed her. I could only laugh at that one. : p


Edit : misspelled Ingles, lol. It's a food store in the south.

[Wompet]

It's a good thing to expand children's minds. And if one can be dressed comfortably while doing it, so much the better.

Sometimes they seem frozen as they stand and stare.

When adults do this, I'm tempted to go over to them and ask, "Did the hamster in your head fall off its wheel?"

[Kilted_John]

Heh, just happened yesterday. As I was walking toward my car, a little girl said to her dad something like "there's a girl"... Granted, I have long hair, but I also have facial hair and she could see that I had facial hair, yet, she still thought I was female, just because I was wearing a kilt... I didn't bother saying anything, but it was kinda funny. Just blew away another kid's sense of normalcy...

-J

[Galician]

This ties into one of my cutest memories of life in the suburbs. I was used to wearing my religious habit while I was out and about in the South Bronx, and was not surprised when a little girl of around that same age yelled, "look, there's a priest"-- in Spanish, of course.

Six months later, and I'm in suburban Boston for my studies, and a little boy of the same age bracket asks "Mommy, what kind of lady is that?"