As a parent, you want to make your kids happy as much as possible. Sometimes, their happiness is intricately tied to their own self-expression, even for the youngest children. A mom in Colorado is showing she’s the coolest (and super understanding of her children’s needs) after she allowed her son to choose the shoes he wanted most for his upcoming school year. That may not sound out of the ordinary, but it was the kind of shoes her son chose.
Amanda (@just.mands on TikTok) shared a video of her recent experience titled, “Self trust starts in the smallest moments. And I’ll be dmned if I’m the one who prohibits my child from authentically expressing themselves.” In her video, she shares the story of how she took her children back-to-school shopping this week. Her almost five-year-old couldn’t find any shoes he liked. While there, her son found “red sparkly there’s no place like home heels” that he was completely enamored with.
At first, Amanda told her son, “Oh buddy, these are so pretty but like we gotta shop for school shoes.” She explained they were looking for closed-toed water shoes or sneakers since he was going to nature school where he would be outside most of the time. They continued to struggle to find shoes that suited him. He climbed up into his mom’s lap and said, “Mommy, boys shoes are just so normal and I want pretty shoes.”
When they went to Target, her son beelined straight for some “purple sparkly clogs” he absolutely loved. Amanda initially found herself at a crossroads. On one hand, “You need nature school shoes” and sharing, “There’s a part of us that are like, ‘you know, these are girl’s shoes.’ Should we buy these for him? Is that okay?” In the end, Amanda and her son left the store shoe-less.
However, in the video, Amanda pauses and said she’s been thinking about the shoes all night. She then says, “So I’m going to buy the shoes” and pulls out in her vehicle, headed back to Target. She purchases the purple clogs and says, “He’s got such a point. Boys shoes are boring. If I see another dino print or a hot wheels racing stripe on the side of a light up sneaker, I am going to start being a fashion designer and design children’s shoes.”
She also pointed out that parents have a primary concern about their child being bullied for what they wear. However, she then said, “I refuse to raise children who change themselves for others, who are shamed into shrinking, and who believe that it’s not okay to express myself fully.” Parents in the comments were in full agreement with Amanda. One person stated loud and proud, “Repeat after me: Items and colors do not have a gender!!!!”
Another shared, “I work at a preschool with 3yr olds and it makes me so happy that they are so open and just don’t care about gender roles they all dress up in whatever girls, boys and have the best time I will forever foster that environment and never allow negativity into that.” Amanda proves she’s a mom who is in tune with her children and really gets them!
