Mom Says Playing With a Pink Toy Stroller Will Not Make Her Son 'Any Less of a Boy'
"What have you got there? That's not a boy's toy- that's for girls," the boy's mother recalled another customer say to her son without acknowledging her.
Imagine the shock this young mother experienced when she says a stranger approached her son at a store, and told him to stop playing with the toy in his hand.
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Rheann MacLaren, of Scotland, her son Harry were at a store picking out a new toy when a pink toy stroller immediately caught the 3-year-old boy's eye, she told InsideEdition.com.
"He spotted it and made a beeline for it. That's what he wanted to buy. He pushed it around for a while," she said.
As they approached the check-out line, the mother said another customer suddenly approached her son, who was distracted with his new toy.
"What have you got there? That's not a boy's toy— that's for girls," MacLaren recalled the woman say to her son without acknowledging her. "There's cars and dinosaurs over there."
Maclaren said Harry looked at the woman confused before responding, "Well, because I like it."
"It's as simple as that for him," the 25-year-old mother told IE.com. "It's not because it's a girl's toy or boy's toy, it was just really fun to play with."
The livid mom took to Facebook to recount her experience, writing that she was angered that the stranger attempted to "belittle" her son but was proud of her son's response.
"Am I worried? No, not in the slightest. My child will grow up a well-rounded, accepting boy who will NEVER feel pressured to conform to gender stereotypes," Harry's mom wrote.
She also wrote that even though her son's favorite toys are cars and trucks, Harry proudly pushed the pink stroller all the way home.
MacLaren told IE.com that her and her husband's stance on what toys their son could play with was not meant to be as contentious as it seemed: "It's never been something we've discussed. If he wants to play with a toy, then he can play with it.
"You should encourage your kids with whatever interests them. It doesn't make him any less of a boy."
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The family scoffed in the face of newfound criticism as her Facebook post becomes more and more popular.
"It's actually laughable (that) people still have this view," MacLaren told IE.com, laughing at some disapproving comments on the post.
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