A dad has been left feeling conflicted after sending his son to school in a dress - only to be told he 'damaged' him by doing so. He explained how his son pulled a dress out of his twin sister's wardrobe before proudly telling him "I want to wear this".
Not wanting to squash his wishes over 'gender norms', the dad simply said 'OK' and rushed him out the door for the school run. But while he didn't mind his son's outfit, his teachers did - and they took it upon themselves to make their views known.
Taking to Reddit, the dad-of-two said: "I get the kids ready for school while my wife sleeps - she works graveyard shifts. "He's got a twin sister. I told them both it was time to get ready for school and his twin sister pulled a bunch of dresses out of her closet.
"My son picked one up and said 'I want to wear this'.
"I'm thinking, whatever dude, we're running late just put some kind of clothes on and let's get out the door."
He went on to explain how he is "pretty politically neutral" and while he wasn't "particularly happy he wanted to wear a dress", it didn't upset him nearly as much as the idea of being late for work.
"I figured OK, I wouldn't ever tell my daughter not to do something because it wasn't ladylike so I shouldn't tell my son not to do something because it isn't manly.
"I drop him off and get to work. Three hours later, we get a call to come pick up our son because his outfit is distracting to the other kids and he's being bullied.
"He was very sad when my wife got there and the whole morning had been upsetting for him."
After speaking to his wife about the situation, he was shocked to hear her take the school's side on the matter.
"My wife said I was setting our son up to fail," he added.
"She thinks damage has been permanently done because he'll be in the same school system as these kids for the rest of his life and he'll be known as 'the one who wore a dress'.
"[She said] I was being thoughtless or wilfully ignorant because I was in a rush and our son suffered for it.
"At the time, I truly didn't think it was that big of a deal, but that doesn't change that I put my son in harm's way.
"Now I'm not sure whether I made the wrong decision or not or how to feel about it."
Wanting to know whether he was right to allow his second-grade son to express himself in this way or not, the dad has taken to Reddit to ask users' for their thoughts.
In response, one user said: "What a refreshing take on parenthood.
"It seems today so many people are set on telling women they can be anything but men still have to be men and act traditionally manly.
"You did what your son asked and I think that makes you a pretty great parent. Good on you."
Another user added: "I don't think there's anything wrong with a boy wearing a dress, and neither do you, which is great.
"But you should have realised that letting him walk into school like that was a recipe for disaster.
"Most people do not think a guy should wear a dress, and that includes little kids, who can and will be cruel.
"Hopefully the other kids will forget about in a month or so, but for now your son is going to face some taunting when he gets to school."
A third user said: "Until he's old enough to understand the potential social ramifications and decide whether he's up for the challenge, or until kids stop bullying others over stuff that's odd to them, you decide to take your kids out of harm's way and then you do it.
"You inadvertently made a social/political statement at your son's expense."
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