I'm sure many of you have heard about the J. Crew ad featuring designer, Jenna Lyons, with her son, Beckett, and his painted pink toe nails. Since this blog is called "Pearls and Polish," I felt that I needed to address the ad and the controversy that it has raised. Let me start off by saying that I am a mother, myself. I have two children- a nine year old daughter and a two year old son. And I will not put polish on my son's nails nor will I allow my son to put it on his own nails.
My son has seen me polishing my nails on multiple occasions. And as a curious child who wants to do everything that his mommy does, he has asked me to put some polish on his nails. Although I thought it was cute that he wanted to do what I was doing, I refused to put polish on his nails. I told him that nail polish is for girls, that he is a boy and that he cannot wear nail polish. He cried and got mad but there was no budging for me. I'm sorry but that is non-negotiable. I could just see the sheer horror on my husband's face when he came home from work and saw his son's polished pink nails... Now, I like to think that I am a progressive thinker that is very aware of gender constructs and how they affect children. I make a big deal about teaching my daughter about all of the things that she can and should do that are not traditionally for girls. But this right here... allowing my son to wear nail polish. Naaaahhhhh. Not going to happen. He can express himself in other ways- like by wearing his fireman boots around the house with his pajamas or by wearing his fireman hat to the doctor's office . But nail polish, no. That's taking it a bit too far. My daughter asked if we could just let him put on some clear polish to appease him. Nope, I wouldn't even allow that. I don't want that to confuse him into thinking that polish is OK....Now, does that mean that I think J. Crew should retract the ad? Or apologize for it? Absolutely not! Hey, if that's how Jenna raises her son- more power to her (although I would love to hear what Beckett's dad says about the polish). But in my house, its not going down like that. Your thoughts, perlas?...Besos, P&P. 
LOL, my son never had any interest. In fact when he got about in the 5th grade and I ran in a nail salon to get a polish change, he would stand outside. He is allergic to the chemicals but if he weren't there is no way I could take him to get even a pedicure, no polish, it is just not his thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about your son. He would probably kill you when he gets older, especially if you did it so publically. I would never subject a boy to that, no way, no how! So, please stick to your standards, he will understand later.
Hi Shawn! Definitely no way that's going down lol...Besos, P&P.
ReplyDelete