Since I became a mother, I've had a few instances of people (family especially) being a little critical of my dress and the way I dress my child. I don;t quite understand where the idea that Goths cannot make good parents comes from, but I suppose it's something to do with the ramped media fueled bad stereotyping or something.
My biggest complaint is when people assume that I'm making Zach dress like me. This usually comes from a soccer mom with a little girl that is in a matching outfit. Yes, I tend to buy Zach's t-shits during Halloween, and even when it's not during the spooky season he gets things with skulls and the like on them, but what people don't realize is that he picks out his own clothes. He chooses what we buy and what he wears everyday. I'm not forcing him into anything.
Now it is true that he probably goes for what he sees his father and me wearing, and he might decide when he gets older that he doesn't want to dress spooky anymore, and I'm perfectly ok with that. He is his own person, and he has the right to express himself in whatever way he wants.
I do have a few worries that perhaps other 'normal' (I hate that word) parents don't have to think about. What if he begins to be made fun of in school? I know that most kids get picked on regardless of what they wear, but will that make him wary of wearing what he likes because of the opinions of others? I've tried to impress upon him that he should wear and do what he wants no matter what other people think.
My other worry is that he will be made fun of because of the way his father and I look. Kids are cruel creatures, and I'm afraid of what will be said to him when his mother shows up to PTA looking like Morticia Addams.
Me and my gremlin. I didn't realize he had picked out a shirt that looked like mine until after the picture was taken.
