My son dressed up in my clothes when he was a little boy, and teetered around in high heels with flowers in his hair. He had a very realistic (if tiny) baby doll, and he used to pretend to change her nappy, and breast feed her. Of course he also played with toy cars and trucks.

I had a lot of people mock me for the way I was raising him, but if he wanted to play "mummy", who was I stop him? A lot of people told me I was setting him up to be "gay". In fact some people even told me he was gay. I asked them what was wrong with them, speculating about the sexual orientation of a three year old.

Anyway, despite all the comments, he's grown up to be pretty secure in his sexuality, certainly seems straight so far (he's fifteen, and has a girlfriend). He's far kinder to girls than a lot of boys his age, is very good with little children, and the thing I'm most pleased about is the fact that he's not sexist or prejudiced at all. I think if I'd forced views of masculinity down his throat it would have been bad for him.

I think it's "f'd up" that some people make such a fuss about forcing stereotypical gender straight jackets on little kids. As parents the most important job we can possibly do is to love our children, and let them grow comfortably into their own skin.