As told to Lauren Levy by Joanna Minuzzo.
First, let me introduce you to my family. We are just a regular family of five, my husband, myself and three children; two girls and a boy.
We are a strong family unit and work hard at it. My husband is in the Navy and I am self-employed as a gentle sleep consultant. We share care of my 6- and 7-year-old girls with their dad, who is an essential family member for us, and our 2-year-old son lovingly calls him “Grandad” — but that’s another story.
Maria at Zen Photography
My gentle, sweet little boy first started to take an interest in wearing ‘girls’ clothes when he began to like Minnie Mouse shortly before his second birthday.
His sister has a red polka dot Minnie Mouse dress and one day about eight months ago, he brought it to me asking to wear it. I laughed and said “little mate, dresses aren’t for boys.” But then I stopped and questioned that. Why can’t he wear it? Who is he hurting? Who makes these rules anyway?
He really wanted to wear it, so I just put it on him and let him wear it. We were in the house, had a giggle, and off he went happy as could be playing with his big sister … and that’s how it started. He was just 1 year old and super happy to wear it. He loves to wear pretty things and to be just like his big sisters.
When his sisters and dad saw him, we all just laughed and thought it was cute. He is has no idea he is a boy yet and doesn’t bear the weight of society’s expectations. My biggest concern wasn’t anything to do with society, it was just that he would trip over something because the dress was quite long.
It has become a regular occurrence for him to want to wear Minnie Mouse. He has shirts, dresses, and socks. He loves a cat dress that belonged to his sister, too.
When I married my husband in May this year, I had bought my son a kilt from Scotland (my homeland) to wear.
I imagined him looking so smart standing waiting for me with his dad. He refused to wear it. At first, I was a little disappointed when he didn’t want to wear it because I thought he would have looked really good in it. But I realized quite quickly I would have to adjust my expectations.
We then bought a little suit to look just...
