By Liana Jacob
MEET THE MUM who lets her TWO-YEAR-OLD son wear DRESSES and GROW HIS HAIR LONG so that he can âbe who he isâ despite receiving criticism from online trolls who call her parenting âDISGUSTINGâ.
Stay-at-home mum, Shannon Walsh (23) who lives in West Sussex, UK, along with her husband, Jon (28), have agreed to give their son, Logan (2), the freedom to be whoever he wishes to be and to dress the way he wants to without the pressures of societyâs preconceived gender norms.
When he was a toddler, he picked out a dress from a shop and ever since then, Shannon has continued to buy him dresses to wear whenever he chooses them. She wants to quash the misconception that a personâs choice of clothing, hairstyle, toys or colours should not be limited to a specific gender.

Loganâs interests vary from playing with cars, getting muddy and pretending heâs a fireman to wearing colourful bobbles and playing with dolls, which he pretends to breastfeed. The first outfit he chose for himself was a My Little Pony dress with a tutu.
Shannon, who follows a child-led attachment parenting approach, has made it her mission to give her son the freedom to choose to live the way he wants to without enforcing gender stereotypes. She also strongly believes in the benefits of breastfeeding until natural term weaning, so she will continue to breastfeed Logan until he no longer wants to.
She is also a breastfeeding advocate for new mums and for the mums who breastfeed their child at an older age. She has no maximum age or end goal when it comes to breastfeeding her son and being seven months pregnant, she plans to tandem breastfeed her two children.
While she has received backlash over her somewhat unconventional parenting philosophy, she wants to raise her son to be open-minded and non-judgemental whilst also allowing him to feel confident and happy in his own skin. She has received comments from strangers that letting her son own dolls makes him a âwussyâ, that his pigtails and bright coloured clothes made him look like a âgypsyâ and he has even been mistaken for a girl by strangers.
âGender neutral parenting is a philosophy of parenting where we, as parents, donât impose societyâs preconceived gender norms onto our child,â Shannon said.

âIn its simplest form; we just let our son be who he is, without telling him âthis is for girlsâ, âthat is for boysâ. So, for example, many people think dresses are only for girls, however, our son chose a dress in a charity shop and I bought it for him – he loves wearing dresses.
âHeâs also chosen clothes stereotypically associated with boys. We donât assign genders to the clothes he wears â they’re just clothes. The same goes for toys, roleplay, hair, dĂ©cor etc.
âItâs not really something we think about â we just let him make his own choices with no persuasion from us or society.
âLoganâs never been told by me or Jon that something is specifically for boys, because in our minds, nothing is only for one gender. We donât create these imaginary boxes that everything must fit into.
âI think itâs important because it allows them to be themselves one-hundred per cent. It gives them the opportunity to explore the world without feeling embarrassed by what they like.
âThey donât have to hide or pretend not to be interested in something thatâs ânot meant for this genderâ like so many children do. Weâll do it exactly the same with our second baby, and any others that follow.

âIt means children donât grow up feeling that they canât be interested in certain things, they can be authentic without conforming to stereotypes that people have made up for them.
âI feel it gives Logan more creative freedom; it allows him to have a huge range of interests and hobbies that some children wouldnât necessarily experience if theyâre being raised to think pink dollies are only for girls and big diggers are only for boys.
âIt gives him confidence to do what he wants to do. I believe itâll help him grow up to be more open-minded, confident and supportive of other people.
âMost of our family and friends have been supportive, however there have been the odd one here or there who make unnecessary comments.
âOne in particular that has always stuck in my mind is someone saying that Logan being a boy and having a doll made him âa wussyâ.
âWhen someone saw him with pigtails and bright coloured clothes on, they made a comment that he âlooks like a gypsyâ, which baffled me.
âItâs never really shocked me that he has been mistaken for a girl. Iâve grown up surrounded by the same stereotypes as everyone else, so I knew to expect this.â
Shannon believes that the method of gender-neutral parenting will give Logan the creative freedom to live the way he wants with an open mind and will also encourage him to grow up to be a non-judgemental person.

âHeâs only two and a half and has just started nursery for three hours a morning twice a week. Most of the children there are about the same age and so far, Iâve not seen or heard any real response at all,â she said.
âWhich goes to show that itâs as we get older and have society and older people forcing their stereotypes on us that we start to believe them.
âThese children that are Loganâs age donât care whether youâre a boy or a girl, they donât care if youâre wearing a skirt or trousers, or if you like cars or princesses.
âOnline, I have had one woman messaging me telling me I am a disgusting parent for trying to force my son to be a girl because he had his hair in a ponytail and wasnât wearing typical âboy coloursâ, i.e. he was wearing pink and yellow.
âMost of the time, when I receive silly comments like these, I will either just delete the comment/message and move on, or if I feel like a comment needs a response, it tends to be a question as to why they feel the way they do?

âWhy do you think a sheet of fabric sewn a certain way is only for girls, or why they feel like hair, which is natural on everyoneâs head, is meant to be cut short to be considered okay for a boy.
âI challenge their beliefs and will prompt them to do some research â people my age donât tend to know that only about fifty years ago, pink was the colour for boys and was considered masculine, while blue was considered more delicate and feminine.
âAlso, that dresses were originally worn by both boys and girls, especially in childhood because it made nappy changes and potty training easier.
âYou had easier access to nappies, they were able to sit on the toilet without the additional pressure of pulling down trousers and everything.
âLogan calls himself a boy; he knows he has a penis, he knows what he likes and dislikes, he knows that it is okay to want his face painted like a unicorn because why should it be only girls who can enjoy mystical creatures, pink or glitter.

âHe also knows, sadly, that some people are small minded, but he doesnât care. When people mistake him for a girl because he is wearing something pink, or because he has a ponytail with a really cute bobble in, he doesnât care.
âHe might do when heâs older, but I am hoping that the way I am raising Logan to be confident in himself, that he will continue to not care and know that Logan is Logan, and Logan is loved beyond measure.
âThankfully, those who have said nasty comments to me about the way I raise him are not heard by Logan himself, and when he has been present, he was far too young to know what was said at all.
âI want to make people aware that gender neutral parenting isnât an extreme method of parenting at all, itâs very simple and itâs something that just makes sense.
âLet your child be happy, regardless of their hobbies and interests. Itâs about being less judgmental and teaching your child to do the same.â