A few days later, Felicity is having a cuppa and a chat with her friend Catherine. Her children, Peter and Emily are at school and Felicity is telling her about her niece and nephew, George and Alice. “He’s a good boy for the most part but he just won’t play nicely with his sister… you know how boys can be.”
“Don’t I just,” Catherine replied. “Peter used to be so horrid to Emily…”
“And then you put him in a dress.” Felicity knowingly added. “I was telling my sister about that.”
“I hope you haven’t been telling everyone.”
“No no… it only came up at my sister’s because George wasn’t playing nicely with Alice… he’d been pulling the heads off her dolls.”
Catherine said that she’d rather it doesn’t become common knowledge, at least in the neighborhood. “You know what people can be like… they’d call social services and report me if they knew… not that there’s anything wrong with petticoating.”
“Is that what you call it?” Felicity asked. Catherine nodded. “I can’t imagine it’s very easy, getting a boy to wear a dress… especially a pretty party dress.”
“It’s easier than you’d think,” Catherine replied. “Peter’s more worried about people knowing he has dresses than wearing them.”
“He did look mortified when they were playing hide and seek,” Felicity recalled. “So… he has more than one then?” she asked.
“Oh yes.”
“And you tell him to wear one and he does?” she asked. Catherine nodded. “Just like that?” Felicity quizzed. “No fights, no tears?”
“As I say, he’s more worried about people knowing that he wears dresses than he is about actually wearing them,” Catherine replied. “He did kick up a stink to begin with but these days he tends to do as he’s told.”
“I’d have loved it if my mother put my brother in a dress when he was naughty.” Felicity imagined. “He used to be such a brat… whenever Penny and I were playing nicely with our dolls he’d burst in with his action men and world war three would break out.”
“It used to be the same with Peter… until one of his teachers gave me a pamphlet about petticoating… I’ve still got it somewhere,” she said, pushing her chair back and rummaging through one of the kitchen drawers. “Here.”
She handed the pamphlet to Felicity. “Proactive Parenting: Petticoating for Boys.” she read. “That’s a sweet outfit,” she said, tapping her manicured nail on one of the three images on the front. “Very Fauntleroy.” she smiled before opening its pages. “Does he wear girl’s underwear too?” Felicity asked as she noticed the section regarding underwear. Catherine nodded. “Not all the time?” she quizzed as she read the advice.
“Unless he’s got PE.” Catherine replied, “…or going swimming with his friends or something.”
“So… how long have you been doing this for?”
“A couple of years.”
“Really?!”
Catherine nodded.
“He must be used to then?”
Again, Catherine nodded.
“And no one knows?”
“Well, none of his friends or classmates so far as I can tell,” Catherine replied. “His cousins and grandparents know, and you of course… but other than that, it’s a closely guarded secret.”
Felicity grinned and said, “If my mother had done this to Charlie I’d have told everyone!”
“Well… so would Emily but she’s been sworn to secrecy,” Catherine replied. “I told her that petticoating a boy is like putting him under a spell and if the secret gets out, the spell is broken.”