"COME AND SEEEEEEE THIS ONE
MOM!"
(Groan.) The commercial that I was expected to
rush in and enjoy with him most often was for Sketchers Twinkle Toes. Yah,
those girlie shoes. Now I am not the type of parent to enforce gender rules. As
the mother of two boys who happens to love glitter and nail polish I am happy
to oblige requests for painted nails (monster nails) and Tinker Bell underwear.
(They didn’t have Peter Pan ones!) Even today my youngest, Baelin, stomps
around in a pair of pink kitty boots. (This kid loves cats, and I am hard
pressed to find one that isn’t purple or pink. Luckily he doesn’t care and
looks awfully cute dressed as Superman in pink boots.) I’ll admit that once I
did snap at Romyn that a purple, fur trimmed, coat he asked for at Hanna
Anderson was a girl’s coat. What I had really meant to say was, I will not buy
you that 200$ coat just because you like the fur. But like some parents I do get
tired of explaining myself all the time. The point is, I am cool with my purple
kitty helmet wearing, yellow toe nailed boys. But I really wasn’t sure what
Romyn saw in these shoes. He is in no way a fan of either pink or purple. Finally I asked.
“Romyn, did you mean for me to see
the commercial on before this one? For the blinky policeman shoes?”
“No. Those, the twinkle toes!”
“Really? Those pink ones right
there?”
“I want them! I loooooove them!”
“Why do you love them?”
“Because they are sparkly.”
“Well the blue and black ones
sparkle too, when you run they light up.”
“No! You can only see those in the
dark. These always sparkle.”
He had a point. I rewind the ad to
take another look.
“Alright, but you see the colors
these tinkle shoes come in, they are not in any colors you like. They are not
in colors many boys like. They are meant to be girl shoes.”
“I like pink.”
“Really? You’ve told me feverishly
you only like gold and black.”
“I like pink, I want Twwwwwinkle
toes.”
“Romyn it’s OK that you want them,
but they are expensive and I hate to buy you a pair of pink girl shoes that you’ll
later decide you don’t really like. They just don’t make sparkly shoes like
that for boys.”
“Why not?!"
Again, my exhaustion has caused me
to say something I sort of regretted. If I had just said we couldn't afford them this conversation would have been over! I really don't care if he wears pink princess shoes. But the fact is, they are girl shoes, society says they are girl’s
shoes, and sketchers says that they are girl shoes. (Even if he had lived a completely
gender neutral life I’d like to think he is smart enough to deduce this from
the sparkly pink, female filled commercial graphics.) I tell him all of this
and that if I really thought he would enjoy them and wear them I would
be happy to buy him pink Twinkle Toes. I would be proud of him for embracing something he loves. (I also point out that some folks might think it
is funny he'd wear shoes marketed toward girls, and how he could respond
to that. Honestly this Sketchers commercial was the current bane of my existence.)
I ended with something like, I know you
Romyn, and you won’t love pink shoes. I am not going to be buying them for you.
He ended up terribly sad. Dang. Well,
why don’t they make boy’s glitter shoes? Maybe they did. I suggested that we
scour the Internet for gold or black sparkly pairs. In the process Romyn
describes just what he thinks would make the perfect set and
it doesn’t really sound like Twinkle Toes at all.
Now at this point in time I had not
seen any DIY glitter shoes on line, otherwise I would have done a better job
with this first pair for the boys. It just seemed logical after looking at
hundreds of sparkly ones with Romyn that we just throw some Elmer’s on a
pair of Vans and roll with it. Finding a cheap white canvas pair was tricky.
Vans and Keds are pricey, especially when you are buying two pairs and then trashing
them with glitter. (Really I should have
realized I could have used any color, then I might have found a clearance pair, but I
was stuck on white.) Finally I found some slip-ons at Wal-Mart for 5$. I ordered
a pair for both boys and we set to making some Rock Star Sparkle shoes! Romyn
was able to make his dream kicks, with lots of gold, his name, and tiny race
car patches. (Those were eventually lost.) Romyn got just what he wanted, and
was even happier with them because he had created them himself. Having a project that made him feel special
during Daddy’s absence made the days a little easier. We called them their Rock Star shoes. Baelin out grew his goopy
green pair first, and Romyn his soon after, and by then it was all about the
Crocs, so we never made any others.
I came across Romyn’s shoes in the
closet last month.
“Romyn look at these! Do you
remember these?”
“My rock out shoes!”
“They won’t fit you now, I think we
should pass them on to B and let him make them over.”
“Wha…. Nooooo!”
“Ro. They don’t fit you. I will
take a picture of them so we can always remember how awesome they are.”
(Grumble…Grumble.) “Fine.”
Baelin’s beyond excited by this,
probably because he heard his brother really didn’t want him to touch them. Or maybe
he had been dreaming of a new glittery pair. I was surprised he didn’t want to
cover all the gold with green, his favorite color, and instead opted to add
more. Pikachu helped him out, whispering in his ear when he needed more Mod Podge
or black glitter to cover Romyn’s name. (Mod Podge this time around, not Elmer’s.)
B
was actually home sick for this project, so perhaps Pikachu’s assistance should
have worried me. Well, both Pokémon and Baelin are very happy with these
sparkly sneakers, and I am happy they are getting a second life. He gets loads of
compliments when we go out, and is glad to tell folks that he made them himself and they are super fast. When he
puts them on he always says “This way everyone will see me coming!”
These are not girl shoes or boy
shoes. These are sparkly Baelin shoes, and yes, they are a mess, which is well suited for a Rock Star!
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