Dad paints his nails in solidarity with his 5-year-old son and goes viral

23 Oct 2018

A dad and his son showing their painted nails on camera.

Stefania is the Prides & Festivals editor and a cinema…

An amazing dad showed solidarity to his 5-year-old by painting his nails.

In a long Twitter thread about toxic masculinity, a Massachusetts dad explained the reason behind his little gesture.

A father of three, he posted a picture of his middle son Sam.

‘And today he learned how shitty and harmful #ToxicMasculinity is,’ the dad wrote in his tweet.

According to his dad, Sam loves things traditionally associated with boys, but he also loves ‘girl’ activities.

Sam is my middle child & he’s a terror. A “boy’s boy” as so many (not me) would say. He’s rough and tumble, he’s loud, he’s always dirty, loves trucks, plays sports and knee drops me from the couch. But he also loves a lot of “girl” things.

— Daddy Files (@DaddyFiles) October 23, 2018

Sam has a collection of purses and loves wearing nail polish. Totally fine, if you ask us.

So he proudly wore his red nail polish to kindergarten this morning because Sam has absolutely no concept of nail polish only being for girls or reason to think anyone would possibly have a problem with beautiful nails. pic.twitter.com/WsHHupgw9H

— Daddy Files (@DaddyFiles) October 23, 2018

‘So he proudly wore his red nail polish to kindergarten this morning because Sam has absolutely no concept of nail polish only being for girls or reason to think anyone would possibly have a problem with beautiful nails,’ his dad tweeted.

When my wife picked him up from school he collapsed into her arms and cried uncontrollably. He was devastated at how other kids turned on him, even his friends. He asked them to stop but that just made it worse. Only 1 kid stood up for him.

— Daddy Files (@DaddyFiles) October 23, 2018

However, Sam’s classmates were far being supportive. Sam’s dad explained his son was ‘ridiculed for being a boy with nail polish’. It was so bad that Same wanted his mom to remove his nail polish so nobody will make fun of him in the future.

He furthermore added: ‘I know these kids are only in kindergarten but this toxic masculinity bullshit is LEARNED. Learned most of the time from parents. So parents, I hope you’re proud. I hope this is what you wanted. I hope you’re satisfied.’

Sam’s dad and brother painted their nails too

His dad went to tell Sam that a lot of guys wear nail polish, including Chris Hemsworth aka Marvel’s Thor and Jack Sparrow.

After careful consideration, Sam decided to leave the nail polish on with a little help from his father and older brother.

‘Then Sam’s 10-year-old brother painted HIS nails in solidarity with his sibling, at which point I nearly cried,’ the dad tweeted.

That was only last one thing his dad could do: painting his nails too.

That moved me to paint MY nails. Sam picked out this color called “Main Squeeze” & I think it’s understated but lovely. Sam is sticking with red because “it’s pretty and good luck for the @patriots.” #ItsOnlyWeirdIfItDoesntWork pic.twitter.com/KtuwldiEJw

— Daddy Files (@DaddyFiles) October 23, 2018

The thread went viral and has been retweeted 4.2k million times so far.