A Californian father is teaching his son to embrace what makes him unique.
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| Photo source : tik tok |
“I really just wanted to make sure that he didn’t have guilt or shame, because it is something that he enjoyed,” 3-year-old boy Ashton’s father said about painting his nails.
Christian Shearhod shared on TikTok last week that he took his 3-year-old son Ashton to get his nails done after his teacher said him that “painting his nails is only for girls.”
“My son came home from school really upset because his teacher said him that painting your nails is only for girls, so today I’m taking him to the nail shop!” Shearhod told in the video.
In that video clip, Shearhod and his girlfriend Eden dramatically gasped when Ashton recalled the incident on their way to the nail salon in West Hollywood.
Once there, Ashton picked out a bright pink polish and sat in the chair with excitement as he awaited his mani-pedi, proudly telling the technician, “I want pink shade.”
He proceeded to get his nails filed before the vibrant color was applied to his hands and feet both. The boy appeared overjoyed that his dad’s girlfriend Eden got the same colour shade as him.
Ashton then adorably blew on his fingernails, but his father apparently “had no idea where from he learned this.”
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| Photo source: tik tok |
In an interview with NBC News published on Wednesday, Shearhod said his son first expressed interest in nail polish around the age of 2.
“Since then, we started painting our nails together,” he told the media.
On taking Ashton to get his nails done after his teacher’s comments, he said, “I really just wanted to make sure that he didn’t have guilt or shame, because it is something that he enjoyed, and we had done together for multiple times.”
Shearhod added that he wants his son to enjoy life to the fullest at his age, without “strict gender norms.”
As a Los Angeles county teacher himself, Shearhod told the outlet that he went to Ashton’s day care the next day to talk to his school teachers.
“I just told them, ‘Hey, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say that kind of thing to Ashton, kind of let him do his own thing what he want,’ ” Shearhod said.
Since sharing the video on TikTok, more than 14,000 users have added positive and supportive comments. However, Shearhod told NBC News there have been a few negative comments and inappropriate questions, such as one user asking, “So what he is gay?”
In another video, Shearhod responded: “He is literally 3 years old; he can’t be gay because he doesn’t have a sexuality yet, and you’re not going to assign him a sexuality because he likes feminine things or things outside of his typical gender norms.”
Often posting content about his life, Shearhod shared, “I just want to inspire students to really want to be themselves, unfiltered without any norms.”