"Mom? I want to be a boy!"
Reeeeaaaaally...I thought. All those dreams I had of mother/daughter makeovers and shopping trips and sparkly dresses and tea and princesses got hammered.
"You do?" I asked.
"Yeah. I not want to be girl. I want to be a boy."
She has to be mistaken, I thought, she's only two, maybe she just means she wants to be just like her dad or something...So I asked,
"Why on earth do you want to be a boy, Sophia?" And here was her answer,
"I want to be a boy because I want to kick the soccer ball and run."
It is sad, but true, that we live in a gender-biased society. Just because she is a girl, Sophia has been bombarded with dresses and ruffles since the day she was born. Things like kicking balls and running free are things that Sophia has probably only observed boys to do. I'm just as much to blame as I look at all the toys I bought for Sophia over the years and they all have to do with Princesses or Domestic Chores.
I pray every day that God will show me how to be the best mom I can be, and this comment of Sophia's showed me that it's my job to empower her to love who she is and explore all her interests; whether that be soccer or shoes, I hope to instill values in Sophia of simply loving herself.
So in my reply, I said to Sophia,
"Girls can kick soccer balls! Girls can run! I know of LOTS of girls who can kick soccer balls better and run faster than any boy can!" She looked at me with excited eyes that said Seriously?! and said,
"Sophia not a boy. Sophia a girl!" And that's what she told every person who passed us on the street that day.
When we got to the fitness center, I took her upstairs, grabbed a big bag of balls, dumped them out on the floor, and we played and kicked balls with the biggest smiles on our faces; and guess what? Sophia chose the pink one.
So today and every day Sophia will let down her hair, run with abandon, and simply be herself.
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