My mother was always very adamant about the fact that her first born child was going to be a male. She was so confident, in fact, that she had a Bible engraved with the name Joshua Glenn Sutton. Hi, hello, I’m her first born child and I am, very much, female.
My dad, however, was THRILLED to have a daughter. Growing up, my favorite toys were always stereotypical boy things. Lincoln logs were a big hit, so were hot wheels (that track that had the upside down loop was the best!), and most of all, transformers. As a kid, I didn’t even realize I was playing with “boy” toys, they were just toys to me. My dad and I would always watch Saturday morning cartoons together, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the go-to, 100%.
When my sister was born, she was the most feminine little ball of energy that you could ever imagine. All of the sudden, I found myself constantly playing with dolls, and the play kitchen, and polly pocket makeup. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. The role of “big sister” will always be one of my absolute favorite things.
Since my parents divorced when my sister and I were young, I feel as if I took more of a masculine role in the house, which gave my sister room to be as feminine as she could have ever wanted to be. I often found myself mowing the lawn, or fixing the shed, and repairing the fence after hurricanes. Even though I never really grew up abiding by one specific gender stereotype, and I wasn’t the gender my mother wanted me to be, I am very glad to know that I am female, without a doubt. Does that mean I would change what I was interested in and what roles I took on when I was growing up? Absolutely not.
P.S. I still have the “Joshua Glenn Sutton” Bible
Hannah Sutton's Blog 
I find this blog post to be absolutely hilarious and really relatable. Since I also grew up liking those types of toys as a little kid. I didn’t have any siblings so I could like whatever toys I wanted, but hot wheels definitely were a hit for me as well. I find it funny your mom wanted a boy and your dad didn’t care, since I think dads usually want a son to play rough with. Glad you kept that bible! definitely will be a funny reminder to you of how your mom wanted you to be a boy but you are a well rounded young woman instead 🙂
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Hi Hannah! I thought the part about the bible was SO funny! Glad to hear you still have it LOL. As a kid, I feel as though I was able to play with what I wanted. I generally gravitated towards dolls and dress-up and my SWEET MAGIC KITCHEN!! My parents still talk about how much I wanted that thing till this day. I feel like with my brother, however, they really tried to get him into superheroes and hot wheels and stuff like that. Maybe it was because he is their first and only son, so they never knew better. My brother never really showed interest in the “girly” things, but he used to be OBSESSED with Taylor Swift when he was really little. May I just say, he had good taste. Anyways, I am happy to see more adults becoming accepting of what their children wear and play with. My psychology teacher from high school lets her sons dress however they want and play with whatever they want. One of them is a huge fan of leggings and playing dress up! Even there sitter is accepting of it and sends pictures to her of him whenever he finds a new way to dress.
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