Do you hide your shoes from your son?

Reading controversial blogs and articles is something I enjoy doing for a short while every day. Somehow reading about all the crazy things people do makes me feel more sane. However, some of the stories makes me think and look deeper into myself, my thoughts, views and opinions. This blog post is not intended to tell you WHAT to think, but just to inspire you to stop for a moment and consider what your thoughts are.

This was exactly what I did when I came across a story about a high school boy who was sent the principle's office for wearing high heeled shoes to school. While the school is said to value freedom of expression, this boy and another boy who wore a dress to school a few weeks ago, were gently persuaded not to do so. The school did not discipline them for their deeds, but they did make the news and were on the receiving end of some harsh judgment.

The comments on the article were varied and passionate, to say the very least. Some said that it is the child's right to wear whatever he wants to wear, others were very judgmental of the child's choice and everyone forgot the issue at hand and attacked one another morally.

My first instinct was to assess it properly, but since the article did not contain much more info, I could not really substantiate my reaction for or against the issue.

Those of us in the world of shoes know that there are high heeled shoes for men and that the ancient Romans made them famous ages ago. It would be wrong to stereotype the child as homosexual if in fact he expressed his style by wearing Latin ballroom dance shoes to school.

Regarding the other boy who wore a dress to school, I have seen that it is a new trend for buddies to make a groom-to-be wear a dress in public as part of his initiation at his batchelor's party. These boys may have been dared by their friends to dress this way. Or perhaps it was actually a kilt and he was embracing his Scottish heritage.

So, after in depth analysis I have come to no conclusion at all. If the school allows kids to express themselves, they open the door to all kinds of things. That's what kids do. I think the reporter should have done a better job reporting on the incident and got the reasons behind why the kids did this. I have learned that we should find the reasoning behind an event before we rush to conclusions and start labeling people - kids in particular.

My daughter has cured my son of all sense of style after making him wear her clothes and putting my make-up on him, using him as her own personal “dress up doll”. He is so sick of it, that I don't think I have to hide my heels, just yet, but then again, would it matter?