As we were looking for sandals for this year, I grabbed a couple of pairs of blue sandals and showed them to my three year old. My only thoughts in the process were that they were the same brand that he had worn last year and liked and that they were various shades of blue – his favorite color. The sandals above are the ones he chose, as the other pair was exactly like his last pair except for being one size larger.

Not until after I was asking him which pair he liked did I glance at the rest of the sandals in the section and realize that these lovely shoes were actually girls’ shoes, as evidenced by the pinks and purples these were buried in between, whereas the cobalt blue shoes were in the midst of tan, black, and camo variations.

While they are a little bright for my taste, he loves them. There is no way I would tell him he couldn’t have a pair of shoes because they were for the opposite gender. He likes them. They fit. They are comfortable. They were affordable. What more matters?