It's starts so early :(

[sangria]

My DD is 4. She said she wanted to be captain antic for Halloween so I went ahead and ordered the cutest captain America costume I could find for her.

Well tonight she comes up to me and says "Ethan told me that girls can't be captain America"

-

[lexus]

lurker chiming in- I think you are an awesome mom for getting her what she wanted. I really hope you were able to talk her into keeping it.

[Saudade]

It sucks.

DS is 3.5 and today we were in Target when he proclaimed emphatically that he "just wanted an Elsa dress" so now I'm searching Amazon to order him one. So far he hasn't stated any of the girls/boys thing but I know it'll be here soon.

[madisen]

Until he was 4, ds's favorite color was pink. When he burned 5 it was all of a sudden a girl color. He didn't pick that up at home.

Hope you can convince your kids they can be and do anything they want to be and do.

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2015 21:58:30 GMT -5 sangria said:

My DD is 4. She said she wanted to be captain antic for Halloween so I went ahead and ordered the cutest captain America costume I could find for her.

Well tonight she comes up to me and says "Ethan told me that girls can't be captain America"

-

I can kind of understand the confusion at that age in regards to saying certain characters are male and certain characters are female. I think at that age they often take things literal...Captain America has a penis so clearly Captain America can't be a girl.

I'm sure you did a great job explaining it to her and I'm sure she'll look awesome in her costume!

[meshaliuknits]

Ethan is wrong. Tell him I said so.

Dude, I saw at least three little girls dressed as Robin at ComicCon. BabyLiu is gonna be dressed as Robin for Halloween. She also had an Iron Man birthday. Girls can do what they want.

You know what? So can boys. I saw two male Leia's at ComicCon. They had AWESOME costumes.

[sangria]

Thanks everyone. I was pretty annoyed at Ethan. His mom is kind of douche so not too surprising though

[heyjude]

Sept 12, 2015 22:19:46 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Sept 12, 2015 21:58:30 GMT -5 sangria said:

My DD is 4. She said she wanted to be captain antic for Halloween so I went ahead and ordered the cutest captain America costume I could find for her.

Well tonight she comes up to me and says "Ethan told me that girls can't be captain America"

-

I can kind of understand the confusion at that age in regards to saying certain characters are male and certain characters are female. I think at that age they often take things literal...Captain America has a penis so clearly Captain America can't be a girl.

I'm sure you did a great job explaining it to her and I'm sure she'll look awesome in her costume!

Agreed. I think it's pretty normal for kids to categorize male and female at this age. I don't think this kid did anything wrong. I think this is where you step in and let her know that captain america can be played by anyone, boy or girl.

[Deleted]

There is a female Captain America if that helps. Her name is American Dream (which is terrible) and her costume is uh... tight, but she's out there.

Along this vein, I'm super excited about the next Thor being a woman.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_(comics)

[CallingAllAngels]

DD was Raph (from TMNT) last year. She got some of the same crap from her classmates when she was really into Ninja Turtles. This year she wants to be Elsa and I'm so disappointed. I want my kids to be Raven and Beast Boy.

[IIOY]

We have a lot of discussions around our house about the fact that boys and girls can be whatever they want. My kids are now 9 and 8 and will be the first to say this to any of their friends who say otherwise. So keep at it. I promise you can influence them.

[laurenpetro]

Sept 12, 2015 22:23:20 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Ethan is wrong. Tell him I said so.

Dude, I saw at least three little girls dressed as Robin at ComicCon. BabyLiu is gonna be dressed as Robin for Halloween. She also had an Iron Man birthday. Girls can do what they want.

You know what? So can boys. I saw two male Leia's at ComicCon. They had AWESOME costumes.

I was gonna say something but it looks like Mesh has it covered.

[litebright]

Awww, I hope she can blow Ethan off and enjoy her costume.

My 7YO DD1 wants to be Captain Underpants, who is her favorite book character. I'm pretty sure the boys will think she's awesome. I wonder if the girls will think it's weird and make fun.

[teflepi]

Sept 12, 2015 22:19:46 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Sept 12, 2015 21:58:30 GMT -5 sangria said:

My DD is 4. She said she wanted to be captain antic for Halloween so I went ahead and ordered the cutest captain America costume I could find for her.

Well tonight she comes up to me and says "Ethan told me that girls can't be captain America"

-

I can kind of understand the confusion at that age in regards to saying certain characters are male and certain characters are female. I think at that age they often take things literal...Captain America has a penis so clearly Captain America can't be a girl.

I'm sure you did a great job explaining it to her and I'm sure she'll look awesome in her costume!

I would agree if we knew Ethan's age, but that is unknown.  He could just be repeating some crap.

Keep repeating it, as IIOY, said and the influence will happen.  

[Deleted]

Here's a nice collection of women in Cap cosplays to show her.

geektyrant.com/news/2013/10/8/captain-america-female-best-of-cosplay-collection

[heyjude]

Sept 13, 2015 11:09:59 GMT -5 @cse1960 said:

Sept 12, 2015 21:58:30 GMT -5 sangria said:

My DD is 4. She said she wanted to be captain antic for Halloween so I went ahead and ordered the cutest captain America costume I could find for her.

Well tonight she comes up to me and says "Ethan told me that girls can't be captain America"

-

well the only response to that is "Little Ethan can go fuck himself".  Seriously. 

FFS. The kid is 4!!!!!!!

No. What this 4 year old thought was a normal way for all 4 year olds to make sense of and categorize life. He didn't do anything wrong. Not helping him see beyond the boxes is what would be wrong.

[Deleted]

Sept 13, 2015 11:09:59 GMT -5 @cse1960 said:

Sept 12, 2015 21:58:30 GMT -5 sangria said:

My DD is 4. She said she wanted to be captain antic for Halloween so I went ahead and ordered the cutest captain America costume I could find for her.

Well tonight she comes up to me and says "Ethan told me that girls can't be captain America"

-

well the only response to that is "Little Ethan can go fuck himself".  Seriously. 

Well I think that's a little harsh for a 4 year old. Like I said above with young kids I often don't think it's meant to be a serious put down. They can take things literally. I sometimes think adults can make a mountain out of a mole hill.

[Dumbledork]

Sept 12, 2015 21:58:30 GMT -5 sangria said:

My DD is 4. She said she wanted to be captain antic for Halloween so I went ahead and ordered the cutest captain America costume I could find for her.

Well tonight she comes up to me and says "Ethan told me that girls can't be captain America"

-

Show her this comic book cover and say "See? Girls can be Captain America. Ethan must not know. You want to show him?"

[ksun]

You can tell her that my DD is going to be 7 on Wednesday and is having a Captain America themed party because he's her favorite and I've told her a million times that girls can like whatever they want to like and boys can too.

[ksun]

Also, Tulo the Cat wants to know what Ethan thinks about cats liking Captain America? He'll cut a bitch that says he can't...

[darthnbjenni]

My 7 year old girl is going as Captain America and I'm dressing up as Thor.

[granthamite]

Sept 12, 2015 22:17:53 GMT -5 madisen said:

Until he was 4, ds's favorite color was pink. When he burned 5 it was all of a sudden a girl color. He didn't pick that up at home.

Hope you can convince your kids they can be and do anything they want to be and do.

Same here with my oldest son, who is now 7. It wasn't until he started Kindergarten that he "learned" that pink was for girls only. His dad wears pink button downs and ties, so he still wants/wears pink polos and such too.

[sangria]

this is what I ordered for her

[marriedfilingjoint]

J (now almost 4) loves Thomas the Tank Engine. I got her a Thomas shirt last year to wear to her Thomas themed birthday party. She won't wear it anymore because it's a "boy" shirt. I did buy it in the boy's department. Try finding a "girl" Thomas shirt that isn't fug. At least she'll still play with her trains.

A couple weeks ago, out of the blue, she told me "dresses and skirts are for girls and pants are for boys." I told her that wasn't always true, and she said, "yeah, but boys NEVER wear dresses. That would make their friends sad." I was all freaked out trying to figure out where this was coming from and did I handle it ok and yadda yadda, and then I figured out from her teacher what happened. Some of her classmates in preschool are graduating to primary school in the fall, and they had all the kids who were leaving bring in their uniforms to show off to their classmates and they talked about differences at "big kid school." The girl uniforms are dresses/skirts, the boy uniforms are pants. That's all it was. I was way over-thinking it.