A dad decided to take his son for a manicure after a teacher told the young boy that it was "only for girls."
Christian Shearhod, from California, better known by his TikTok handle @mr.shearhod, shared his son's story in the hopes that it would help to de-stigmatize boys having manicures too.
"My son came home from school really upset because his teacher told him that painting your nails is only for girls, so today I'm taking him to the nail shop!", Shearhod said in the video.
He then explained how he took his son to a nail salon in West Hollywood to make him feel better.
When they got there, the dad helped his son pick out a bright pink polish and sat in the chair with excitement, telling the nail tech that he really wanted pink nails.
The little boy seemed extremely happy with the result, as he watched his dad's girlfriend - Eden - also get a matching set.
Towards the end of the video, he urged people to "let little boys like what they like... Trucks, Spider-Man, Paw Patrol & maybe painting his nails."
Under the video, over 14,000 users left comments expressing their support for Shearhod's kind reaction.
"This is amazing but I'd be having a talk with his teacher too. There was NO need in the teacher saying this to that sweet boy," wrote one user while another spoke from personal experience, telling the dad: "As a teacher, I am so sorry. I always tell my students there aren’t 'boy' or 'girl' things. Just things that we like."
"He’s so happy and excited! That’s what matters here," another commenter added.
Others had a real problem with the teacher's attitude.
"Teachers sure are overstepping a lot lately. Their (sic) there to teach not judge," said one user while another agreed that someone needs to have "some words" with them.
And the comments didn't stop there.
"Teachers shouldn't be all up in children's HOME life. If he wants his nails painted by gahly paint them nails! Why on earth would it bother a teacher?!", one wrote.
Another added: "That makes me so mad. Good on you, dad! He’s rocking those nails!"
In a follow-up interview with NBC News, Shearhod told the outlet that his son first expressed interest in nail polish around the age of two.
"Since then, we started painting our nails together," he said before adding: "I really just wanted to make sure that he didn't have guilt or shame, because it is something that he enjoyed, and we had done together multiple times."
And as people suggested, the dad did make a trip down to the daycare to speak to the teachers there about the incident.
"I just told them, 'Hey, I'd appreciate it if you didn't say that kind of thing to Ashton, kind of let him do his own thing,'" Shearhod said.
In another video posted to his TikTok account, Shearhod responded to a comment that questioned if his three-year-old son was "gay".
"He is literally 3 years old," he stated. "He can't be gay because he doesn't have a sexuality yet, and you're not going to assign him a sexuality because he likes feminine things or things outside of his typical gender norm."
Let him just live his life!
