Dress Up

I still vividly remember an image of myself in our french window from when I was a child, wearing a frilly edged, long nightie of my mothers and a pair of her shoes, clip clopping up the garden path.

I felt very grown up and pretty in the ensemble.

So too do my own children now like to dress up.  They have all, at some time put my shoes on (or their father’s) and clip clopped around the house or patio.

They have all at some time worn something of mine, as a comfort and for fun.

Last night while my husband ran an errand with our eldest child, I stayed at home and was asked by one of my children for a dress to play in. 

As I knew I had been given a bag of assorted dresses that I’d put to one side until they were big enough to fit them, I pulled it out of storage and showed them off one by one.

I was met with oohs and ahhs, not the right colour, too hot to play in.  We went through all of them and although they were met with some degree of satisfaction, they didn’t fit the bill.

"Have you got any more" I was asked.  I remembered that there was one hanging up on a rack that was still too big to be worn yet and promptly showed off the item.

"Perfect" came the reply.  It was a fairly plain pink dress with limited pattern on it.  My child tried it on and went to look in the mirror with a head band they had borrowed off their sibling.

"Can I keep it?" I was asked.  "Well you’d need to ask your sister, as it’s hers" I replied.  With that my youngest son turned to his sister and asked her if he could have it.

Should I be worried by this?  I don’t know.  It’s not the first time he has asked to wear something of his sisters.  What I do know is that I don’t make a big deal of it.  I did gently ask why he liked the dress and he said that he wanted to know what it was like to be a girl.

He doesn’t wear the items for long and usually has a laugh when he’s doing it (which is also not often).  And he got offended by his sister calling him a girl.

For now I put it down to curiosity. 

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