12-14-2012, 06:04 PM
(12-14-2012, 05:13 PM)crash Wrote: Let the kid have the shoes. Who really cares? If kids tease him for it, it is not wrong that he was allowed to wear them, it's wrong that the kids were allowed to tease him.
Vive le difference
I got what you meant and agree; just a difference of opinion on this last part of your edit.
Kids teasing (along with some of their ignorant parents) can't be stopped altogether any more than someone can be stopped or influenced from being gay. Kids at that age judge and speak without filter; that can't be controlled at all times. But what they say, especially a group against an individual, can impact the confidence and social development of the lone kid. I wouldn't (and haven't) raised little conformists, but we're talking preschool here.
I'd let the boy have the shoes too. But, I wouldn't send him off to school in them thinking that he's not gonna get teased and belittled just because I know that's wrong. I'd rather he be a bit disappointed about not being able to wear a certain pair of shoes than sending him out with a target on his feet.
Ideally, showing what might be homosexual characteristics wouldn't be considered so different and teasable and it wouldn't be an issue in the first place. Soon, hopefully.