This dad’s reaction when his son chose a Barbie doll for his birthday is perfect

California boy Isaiah Willis recently turned four (Happy Birthday, Isaiah!) and received two of the same toy for his birthday. That unfortunate double gift turned into a shopping win, when his dad, Mikki Willis, took him to the store to exchange one of the gifts for something else.

Rather than gravitate toward traditional “boy” toys, Isaiah decided he’d rather have his own Princess Ariel doll. Instead of encouraging Isaiah to pick a different toy, his dad did something else —and it makes our hearts feel really good. Instead of insisting on a gender-normative toy, Isaiah’s awesome dad got his son the doll and uploaded this video to Facebook where he expressed his support for his son’s decision.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipWlxjDuXU4

“Choose it, choose your expression, choose what you’re into, choose your sexuality, choose whatever,” Isaiah’s dad stated. “You have my promise forever to love you and accept you, no matter what life you choose.” And, “I let my boys choose their life. That’s how momma and I are, we just say whatever. We say yeah.” We say yeah to this! 

It’s a wonderful video you‘ve really got to watch for yourself. It already has over 12.5 million views and over 200,000 shares to date on Facebook. Incredible. Best of all, the comments are, for the most part, so very, very positive.

Our hope is that Isaiah’s dad inspires other parents out there to have the same reaction when their kids want non-“traditional” toys. And that supporting your child’s decision to play with toys (or choose clothes, accessories, etc.) that aren’t necessarily “gender-traditional” becomes less of an anomaly —and more of an regular occurrence we don’t even need to report on.  

Way to go, dad. Way to go.

(Image via Facebook)