Definition: Given a real-life anecdote of a complex ethical situation, generate a suitable title that describes the main event/root cause of the situation. Imagine that the given text is a social media post, and you have to write the title of the post, so the users can decide to read the main text or not.
Input: My son is five. He’s going through something. A stage in identity development, my wife calls it. His sister is seven and he’s taken to wearing her old clothes. Thus far, this has been largely confined to the house. However, on Halloween last year we decided to be more lenient and let him go as a unicorn, which was a somewhat feminine costume, but not quite drag either. 

I would say the whole dress up thing has been going on since he was three (so only like two years).

Anyway this coming holiday we’re all dressing up, which is pretty normal in my family (when we do Christmas celebrations with my wife’s parents, it’s more lax so outfits aren’t as big a concern). My daughter is wearing a pretty elaborate, puffy red dress that looks like what the pageant kids wear (slightly over the top, but my wife picked it). 

My son saw my daughter’s dress and for whatever reason became obsessed with wearing something similar. I have no idea why he’s so fixated on this but he’s managed to wear my wife down to the point where she thinks we should just let him wear a dress. 

I am personally unwilling to let my son’s outfit be the main point of discussion on Christmas Eve (and it would be). I put my foot down and said that this just isn’t the time for this sort of experimentation. He doesn’t necessarily have to wear a little suit, but it’s not going to be a dress either. 

I figured I would make it known several days in advance to avoid a meltdown the day of. My son became hysterical and it didn’t go over well with my wife. She thinks I should just let it go but she also is a fairly passive, unargumentative person so I don’t see her fighting me on it either. 

Look, I am not trying to be the villain in this scenario. I just think that the holidays aren’t the right time for this sort of thing. Christmas Eve comes once a year and I want it to be drama and spectacle-free. Does that make me the a-hole, Grinch in this situation?



not letting my son wear a dress to my parent's house on Christmas Eve