3.5 years old boy's passion for girly dresses
jackandjill posted on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 15:34
My 3.5 years old son always wants to wear a girl's dress like skirt top or frock and even gaghara. Even when he gets dressed for some party he gets adamant on wearing some girly dresses. Its so embarrassing for me. Actually I have even stopped attending parties recently because of his behavior.
He started this when he was 3 years old. I thought he will outgrow this but I do not see any signs of him getting rid of this habit. Actually when he was 3 years old we had gone for my cousin's marriage ceremony. There he met a cousin of his dressed in gagharas and all colorful dresses. Since, that day he has got this habit.
How can I help him get out of this habit.
I don't think it is something to be worried about. Kids do such kind of things. Do not make this an issue in front of the kid. He will not improve this way. Its better to ignore this and try to encourage him with some boy dresses.
My son wanted to wear all girls dresses and put on make up since he was 2 years and 8 months old. He did this seeing his sister and me. He said why he could not get dresses like his sis. At that time I let him do as I thought he was a small to understand the difference. But he did not seem to stop infact his liking seemed to get intense.
Slowly I tried to explain him the difference but he would not accept anything. Then I got my husband involved. I made sure he spent time with him doing all boys stuff. Also I started taking him to a play area where more boys of his came. During play I showed him how other boys dressed. As per suggestion from a friend I also got some boys dress in colors like pink, purple etc.
I don't know what helped but slowly my son gave up his girl dresses.
Its nothing to be worried about. Many kids of this age tend to do this. Girls dresses are more colorful and with more designs so boys tend to like these. Please don't force your kid to dress up in boys clothes. This will increase his curiosity.
One thing you can try is, make this dressing thing a game. May be each day you ca have sometime fixed when you play with your son getting dressed in various kinds of dresses. You can get some masks, dresses for different characters like spiderman, Krishna etc. This way he will get a feeling that dressing up in different way is just a play. And slowly he might get back to normal dresses.
Children tend to develop unusual likings at different ages. I don't think you should be embarrassed as anybody with kids would understand your position.
Thanks ladies for your valuable suggestion. I will try to make this dressing thing a funtime and also not react to this behavior of my son.
Thanks again
Its opposite with my daughter she does not find herself comfortable in any of the girl dresses. She always wants a pant/capri and top. She does not like colorful frocks or ghaghara kind of thing. I think its just a phase and goes with time if you ignore it.