Originally Posted by
Stephanie Scott
Wellllll, I have VERY recent experience. Hope you enjoy; I posted this on another site and didn't want to have to remember everything to recount so here's the "cut and paste:"
Yesterday afternoon, my wife took the kids to a party and asked me if I were going to dress up. I said I probably would and do some cleaning, and she said ok; that she'd call on the way home.
Well, I got dolled up in a frilly blouse, blue floral print skirt, did a halfway decent job of putting makeup on, pulled my hair back in a ponytail w/ a blue hairtie, and got to work. I got a lot of cleaning done and had just sat down in front of the TV in the basement when I heard my 7 yr old daughter come inside upstairs and yell, "Daddy, we're home!"
I was trapped! No way really to get from the basement to the 2nd story bedroom. I heard them hanging their coats up in the closet and thought it might be my opportunity, so I kicked off my high heels (I've learned a lot from watching horror movies), and trying to turn the clock back 20 years to my college football playing days, I turned on the speed to try to get 2 flights up and make it into my bedroom before my daughter and 6 yr old son saw me.
Almost made it, too. (All the milkshakes I've eaten in the interim 20 years have slowed me down a couple tenths of a second!). I heard my daughter yell, "Daddy! You're wearing a wig and a dress," just as I was slamming the door behind me. BUSTED. Ohmygosh; I was terrified because I knew my wife didn't want the kids to know (she forgot her cell phone). I quickly changed and washed my face while the kids were banging on my locked bedroom door. They were yelling that they wanted to see me all dressed up and were disappointed that I walked out in my boy jammies.
I went to my wife, who was still downstairs, and she apologized profusely for not having called, and she told me I needed to figure out what to tell them; she was staying outof it.
I asked her instead to help me explain it -- that if she demonstrated that we were together on this and she didn't have any problem w/ it, the kids would be ok w/ it (Ags 7 and 6 are great ages for revealing this kind of stuff -- old enough to keep secrets and young enough not to judge).
My fantastic wife said, "You go and start to talk to them; I have an idea." So I went to my son's bedroom and asked them what they liked to pretend to be when they dressed up. My son put on his tiger suit, and my daughter clipped on a zebra tail. I told them that grownups like to pretend sometimes too, and in particular I always liked to dress up and pretend to be a girl. That it made me feel good and I had a good time with it just like they did when they dressed up as something else. I also explained to them that this was just something we should keep w/in the family, unless I told them it was ok because there are a lot of people out there who don't understand or like that some people like to do this. They acted like they completely understood and begged me to show them what I looked like.
At that point, my wife walked into the room wearing one of my suits and ties! The kids laughed uproariously and thought it was way cool and funny. I told them I would show them another day what I looked like while dressed, but they wanted to see what it was that I had worn, so I showed them everything from the wig (which my daughter tried on) right down to the panties. They laughed, but in a fun way, not a mean way.
When they went to bed, I said prayers w/ each one of them, but as I was walking into my son's room, he said, "I don't want you to dress up like a girl." I asked him why not and asked him if he would like it if I told him not to dress up like a tiger, and he said, "No, Dad, I mean I don't want you to dress up and hide it from us. I want to see you." I asked him if it would be ok if I got dressed up like a girl and showed him another time, and he said, "Yes, Dad; maybe I can dress up like a vampire and show you what I look like." I told him that would be wonderful, and he said, "But [i]I[i] don't want to wear a dress and dress up like a girl!" I told him that was perfectly fine, and that I didn't necessarily want him to, but if he did, it would be ok w/me. He said he didn't, so I said "good."
Out of the mouths of babes...
Last night I went to bed in my wig and a pretty little lilac colored chemise. Not sure if my wife saw me as she had already gotten in bed, but she didn't say anything negative if she did. I took it off this morning before the kids came into the room. I'm not planning on purposefully dressing in front of them (except for the one time I promised and Halloween or some other rare occasion), but at least I have the relief of knowing that it's no big deal if they happen to see me, and I don't have to hide!
Freedom!
Anyway, my wife gave me 2 eyeliner pencils this morning that she wasn't going to use, and my daughter just asked me if I would go upstairs and dress up like a girl. I said, not today, honey, and she said, "awww Daddy, but I know alot about makeup!" Lol. I told her that maybe she could show me another time, and she said, Ok.