Stereotying

I brought the kids to my cousin's yesterday. My cousin's daughter, SweetL, and DC get along really well so we try to get the kids together at least once a week. Sometimes they come over to my place, sometimes we go to McDonald's Play Place, or Ikea so that DC and SweetL can play in the Child Minding area. However, most times we go over to my cousin's. Her place is big and the children have lots of fun. The mommies get together to eat and chat about everything and anything while the children play. My boys are too excited and rarely eat or they eat very little (unless it's dessert). I usually feed them a snack before and after we go over.

My cousin is always the gracious hostess. She prepares a feast fit for a king. This time she prepared Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Pho. It was delicious. A friend brought chips and hummus. Another cousin brought mini Ice Cream Mochi. Another friend brought bumbleberry pie and I brought over a Mascarpone Cheesecake with Almond Crust.

While we were sitting around the kitchen table chatting away, DC wandered over with a purse over his shoulder and a pink toy cell phone to his ear. You can imagine what a sight he was and how we ladies were giggling and saying that his daddy was not going to be happy. Anyone who knows DH knows that he would not be pleased. Then I told the ladies what DC said to us that morning. A couple of days ago DH put the Spiderman DVD on for DC and DA to watch. The next morning, DC said that he wanted to be a rainbow Spiderman. I had a good laugh because I knew what DH's reaction was going to be. DH's reply was "why not red?! blue?! green?! Any of those are fine, but no rainbow!" DC replied that he wants to be all of those colours that's why he wants to be rainbow Spiderman.

A little while after, SweetL was dressed up in a Princess dress and holding a wand. DC saw the toy tiara and wanted to put it on his head just so he could join in on the dress up fun. I told him that it was for SweetL's costume and that it's a girl's costume so he placed it back down.

So I'll put this out there: Did I do the right thing? Was I playing the stereotype game? Is it wrong to let a boy play dress up with a girl's wardrobe (that's all they have)? What should I have done?