A mom has taken to a parenting community asking for advice after she discovered her partner’s conservative views around gender norms.
It came to her attention after her five-year-old son came home from kindergarten recently, excited that his nails had been painted.
“They were running a pretend salon,” she explained, adding that the teachers offered the kids a chance to have their nails painted with kid-safe nail polish.
“My son thought this was totally cool and was really excited,” she continued, but when her partner got home, he didn’t see the fun and innocence in it.
“He was furious!” the mom recalled. “He started going off saying it’s disgusting the kindy [kindergarten] would allow this, telling my boy nail polish is for GIRLS only and my son looked so upset.”
She concluded her post by admitting she was “heartbroken” for her son and worried that her partner has now threatened to call the kindergarten to complain.
“How do I deal with this?” she asked.
The community rallied around the mom and her son and offered their advice and support.
Many men weighed in, telling the OP her partner needs to get more secure with his own masculinity.
“I’m a 43-year-old man, and I can’t tell you how many times my daughters have ‘done my nails’,” one guy wrote. They added, “Your partner is being a massive [jerk]. Tell your partner that he’s acting like a child.
“Acting like the way he did serves no purpose other than making your child sad/upset. Your partner sounds like he needs to be a bit more secure in his masculinity if he’s so triggered by nail polish. I feel sorry for him, but more for your son and you.”
Someone else agreed, saying, “OP’s partner has some [issues] of their own to work out, and OP’s kid should keep on being a kid.”
Then this dad added, “My toddler doing my nails is one of my most cherished memories. I wore rainbow-painted nails to work and eagerly told anyone who asked what was going on.”
“Defend your child,” a different user urged the mom. “It doesn’t have a gender, and it comes off, it’s really not that serious.”