“They’re only guidelines David.” she told him. “Only really naughty boys need petticoating everyday.” I told him, adding “…and every night.” He gulped and looked up at me through a pair of pleaful eyes. “…but if today’s behaviour is anything to go by, you won’t need that.” “I hope not. It’s horrible […]

“Oh Mum why have you enrolled him in one of those?!” Kate exclaimed. Their parents give Kate the very same reasons as they’d given Peter and she was just as surprised as her brother to discover that she’d be attending an EP school too. She’s not happy to discover that ballet classes are compulsory, but […]

  I shook my head, quickly glanced around and said “They’re all girl’s clothes.” “They’re all dresses.” Mum retorted as if correcting me. She reminded me of the boy’s dresses in the exhibition last month. “Do you think those boys thought they were wearing girl’s clothes or just dresses?” she asked. I pondered for a […]

The lamp she’d turned on is a new one, and I don’t like it. It’s too bright for a start and has a revolving shade that casts a pink & lilac glow across the walls and ceiling. “At least it’s not Princesses,” I said as I followed a silhouette of Tinker Bell scroll across the […]

This was the part he hated most.  Being naked, even for a moment, in front of his older sisters.  Sometimes he wished he had a younger sister on whom to take out his frustrations – and ever since that time on the hill, his older brother was of no help in any attempt to shield […]

  ~   Their mother left them alone and stole a sausage on a stick from the remains of the buffet before returning the kitchen to finish washing the plastic party dishes. Afterwards, she made herself a pot of tea and sat at the breakfast bar where she enjoyed a cigarette and perused the petticoating […]

  On our previous visit to the city, there was an exhibition of vintage children’s clothing at the big museum. It was mostly boring because most of the exhibits were dresses… but it was interesting too because one tends to learn things that they never knew beforehand. One thing I learned at that exhibition was […]

In light of that, the pull-up nappies didn’t seem so bad. Once we had a clean pair of rubbers and our over-knickers and nighties back on, mum said, “Oh look at the time… it’s almost twenty minutes past your bedtime.” before shuffling us out of the bathroom. It felt so weird having the light flowing […]

  Yes, the green dress with the floral pattern.  I’ll never forget that day… Martha and Bernice coming into the room interrupted his reverie – his hands were still on the dresses. “Any particular one you’d like to wear today, dear Patty?” a gentle smile on Martha’s face.  “They ARE pretty, yes, Patty?” “Don’t call […]

Poor David has no idea how pretty he looks, especially when he sulks and pouts, his mother thinks as she washes the dishes. If she’d known just how effective petticoating would be she’d have done it last year and probably the year before. Maybe if he’d worn a dress then, he’d have played nicely with […]