Mother defends son’s ‘girly’ toy choice in Facebook post

GLENROTHES, Scotland (MEDIA GENERAL) – A mother in Scotland is defending her son’s choice of toy in a now viral post on Facebook.

In the open letter posted on April 28, Rheann MacLaren describes a recent encounter with a fellow customer at a toy store.

In the open letter she said the stranger came over frowning at her 3-year-old son for choosing a “girly” baby doll stroller over something more suitable for a boy, such as cars or dinosaurs.

MacLaren said she tried to belittle her son, telling him, “Oh you don’t want that, it’s just for girls, not boys! It’s all pink and girly. There’s cars and dinosaurs over there, why would you want that girly thing?!”

MacLaren said she was about to tell the woman off for being so judgmental and critical of a small child, but her son’s response was so much better.

“Cos I like it,” he told the woman.

MacLaren said her son pushed the stroller all the way home from the store and was “proud as punch” of his new toy.

“He told me about how he’s going to put his baby dolly in it and push it to the shops for its milk, because yes, shock horror, my son has a dolly too,” she wrote.

MacLaren said she’s not at all worried about her son, “My child will grow up a well-rounded, accepting boy who will never feel pressured to conform to gender stereotypes.”

She concluded, “I really hope you saw how happy he looked as he walked out [of] the shop with his girly pink dolls pram and think twice about saying anything similar to a complete stranger again.”

The post has been shared more than 1,500 times.