Dad takes his son for a manicure after his teacher tells him that 'painting nails is only for girls'

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 9, 2023. It has since been updated.

Time is changing rapidly and the current generation of parents is doing everything they can to debunk gender stereotypes. A father from California had set an example by taking his son for a manicure after an incident at school, reported NBC News. Christian Shearhod said in a video shared on TikTok, "My son came home from school upset because his teacher told him that painting his nails is only for girls, so today I’m taking him to the nail shop!" 

The video has more than 4 million views and shows his 3-year-old son, Ashton, at a West Hollywood nail salon. He proudly says, "I want pink!" and sits down for a complete manicure and pedicure service. The young child displays his bright pink manicured nails at the conclusion of the video. Shearhod wrote at the end of the video, "Let little boys like what they like, trucks, spider-man, paw patrol, and maybe painting his nails." 

Shearhod, a teacher in Los Angeles County, stated in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday that his kid started showing interest in nail polish at the age of 2. He said, "Since then, we started painting our nails together. Shearhod said he and his girlfriend intended to cheer the youngster up by taking him to the nail salon when Ashton returned home distraught following his teacher's comment. He added, "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 it together multiple times." Shearhod claimed to have spoken with Ashton's daycare instructors the next school day. 

Shearhod said, "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.'" More than 14,000 individuals have commented on the TikTok video since it was shared, the majority of whom backed the father and kid. TikTok user @taurussungoddess_tarot said, "It brings me so much joy looking at how good you and Eden are with him, you parenting role model for me." TikTok user @donnaodie08 said, "That teacher is out of line! Most rock stars I know paint their nails! It’s for everyone!"

Another person @childrenwith4legs said, "I’m a girl and work on cars. My brother-in-law loves the color pink. My son loves his nails polished. The earth still turns the right way." Although the majority of reactions to the video have been good, Shearhod said that a few have been unfavorable, including one user who stated, "So he is gay?" Shearhod responded to this through a video saying, "He is literally three years old; 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."

Shearhod has over 900,000 followers on TikTok and constantly publishes videos about his life there. He is dating a transgender woman and identifies as straight. He claimed that because the majority of his videos feature parts of his life, such as his relationship, he frequently receives hostile and transphobic comments. He said, "I get stuff on my videos like, ‘You’re gay, you should go kill yourself.’ Like, all that kind of stuff. I’ve never experienced that kind of hate." Shearhod stated that he wants to utilize his platform to support LGBTQ pupils despite the criticism he occasionally faces. He said, "I just want to inspire students to really want to be themselves, unfiltered."