When Michaelle Kinney sees this photo of her little boy, she sees her soon-to-be 7-year-old excitedly showing off a new toy truck. However, a stranger in the gas station where they were stopped noticed something else about Keith in this moment and couldn't keep it to herself.
"This lady wandered around the store whispering beneath her breath about how little boys should not wear girls clothing and how little boys should be made to be little boys…" Michaelle wrote on Facebook.
Michaelle's child happened to be wearing blue, sparkly flip-flops with beads on them. These were Michaelle's shoes that Keith has borrowed in the past to quickly grab something outside. But she couldn't care less that he decided to borrow her shoes "in public" during that crazy morning. "Yesterday was hectic, we were in a rush to get out the door to go do our errands and to go see his dad at work," she explained. "So instead of making him wear shoes that he had vomited all over the day before and were still drying, when he asked if he could wear my flip flops I said yes without thinking."
So when the judgmental stranger started muttering about her son's shoes, this mom of two explained that it took all of the restraint she had not to lash out at the woman. But the next day, when her Keith got home, he asked if he could wear the shoes again. "I said yes again without a problem without even thinking that this world is full of cruel a**holes," she wrote. "Boo looked at me and said, 'It hurts me when people talk bad about me because I'm wearing girl shoes but I like your shoes, mom.'"
The world felt like it stopped spinning as he said it and Michaelle decided to use it as an extremely important teachable moment for her son. She told him that not only does it not matter what other think of what he wears but most importantly, their opinion will never matter as long as he's happy and comfortable. "I explained to him that his father's love and my love for him will never change regardless of what shoes he likes, what clothes he wears, what toys he plays with or what he wants to do in his life," she wrote. "I am mom and dad is dad and we will always be here to love him no matter what."
To make sure that Keith truly understand, Michaelle also shared that growing up she used to wear "boys" clothes and never let the assumption that she should be staying clean in dresses stop her from doing what she wanted. "Why is it so acceptable for a girl to be a Tom boy but not the other way around? Get out of your own heads people, they're kids…" she wrote. "Let them be themselves before the real world and it's harshness have to rain on their parade!"
Michaelle tells CafeMom that Keith's father, Steven, completely agrees with her stance on this: Their children can wear whatever they want as long as they are clothed properly. "We believe that as long as our children are comfortable, happy and properly covered then we're not going to argue with them as to what gender the clothing or accessories they're wearing," she says. "My son is free to be who he wants as long as I am doing my job as a mother by teaching him how to be a good person as well as compassionate and functioning adult."
So for that woman at the gas station or anyone else who wants to comment on Keith's shoes, Michaelle has a message for you. "If you didn't give birth to or aren't currently raising my child then keep your opinion to yourself because it will fall on deaf ears so long as my child doesn't hear it," she wrote. "Should my child hear you, then I will see this as a reason to share my opinions with you and believe me when I tell you I have plenty of them on this matter! Don't rattle this Momma bear's cage, you may not enjoy the outcome."
