It was only two more days till my brothers’ wedding, and I was still fighting with my parents about what I would wear. My mom was determined to have me wear a blue dress with shiny sparkles on it with dainty little shoes to match. Still, I was dreaming about the black pants and fancy collared shirt I saw in the clothing store the other day. My mom asks me, “Why do you keep refusing to wear the dress?”
“I can’t stand how the sparkles feel so itchy, and I want to be able to dance at the party, and if I am wearing this dress, I won’t be able to,” I replied
My mom replied in an annoyed voice, “Your sister and all your cousins will be wearing a dress as well. Don’t you want to feel pretty and get dressed up like them?”
“But mom, I would still feel pretty and dressed up in the pants and fancy shirt from the store. I’ll be able to actually dance and run around, and I want to feel comfortable the whole night.”
“You haven’t even tried the dress on. Can you at least try it for me? I’ll leave it right here on your bed.”
There laid out was the hideous dress I was supposed to wear, mocking me as if it knew I had no choice but to wear it. I try the dress on just to please my mom. As I walk into the kitchen to show her, she turns her head and lets out a sigh of relief. ” See, you look beautiful. There is no need to go and buy the pants and shirt when this dress fits you perfectly and makes you look like a young lady.” Right then and there, I decided to wear the dress because I knew how much it meant to my mom. Even though I wouldn’t feel the prettiest in this sparkly blue dress, my mom thought I was, and that’s all that mattered.
Learning to Teach With Tyana 
This is a very intimate moment with your mother so thank you for sharing it. Many parents can become confused when faced with a child who doesn’t necessarily conform to every single aspect of their socially expected gender role. I think moments like these are becoming more of a conversation in modern society rather than an assumption of submission. This story makes me think back to when I was young, and my grandmother and mother would always dress my sister and I in the exact same dresses for every occasion. We hated it, simply because we didn’t want to be the same and our styles were not the same. Yet we did, because our family members found it adorable for two sweet little girls to be in matching sun dresses and hats rather than our much preferred shorts and sandals like our brothers sat comfortably in.
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