Let’s Get Things Clear.....

Yesterday hubby and I took Dante to Dave and Buster's. It's a restaurant/arcade chain and we like to go there to play the games. Dante likes to run around and "play" the motorcycle or car games. I say "play" because he's only 14 months old so he really just holds on to the handlebars or steeringwheel and goes "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr". Anyhow, Hubby and Dante were chasing eachother around and I was hiding behind games letting D catch me, when I noticed an elderly couple (probably grandparents) and the rest of the family doting on Dante and smiling at seeing he and my hubby playing. They were having a blast watching him, and then when Dante found me and I popped out of my hiding place, I heard the older couple say "Oh my god look at the mother!" and it passed on to each member of the family, "Look at the mother!" "Look at the mother" "Look at the mother!". Now, instead of smiling at a happy family playing with their son, I could see them shaking their heads and saying "what a shame", "oh how awful". No joke. I HEARD them say it.

Was I holding a butcher knife and threatening to slice my son's throat? No.
Was I hitting him? Nope.
Was I wearing skimpy inappropriate clothing with curse words all over it? No, actually I was in jeans and a plain t-shirt with my comfy sketchers and my hair was in a ponytail.

No, it wasn't my behavior that made these people all of a sudden change their minds about the happiness and well-being of my child. It was the fact that my hair is bright red and my arms are tattooed from shoulder to wrist. I'm assuming that is what, since I wasn't doing anything else other than playing with my son and husband.

So let me set the record straight for anyone who has ever "shaken their head" when they see that an Aging Goth Chick or Punk Chick or Rockabilly Chick is a mother with funny hair and tattoos. We're still good mothers. Our appearance has nothing to do with it. Will our children grow up and want to look like us? Who knows? I don't wear cheesy hippy clothes like my mother. Who is to say that Dante grows up and is a complete fashionista and only wears Prada and Armani? My job as a mother has no bearing on what color my hair is this week and how many tattoos I have.

end of rant.