Parents Say Their Twin Boys Are 'Too Embarrassed' To Leave The House Wearing Their Princess Dresses

A couple have said their twin boys love to wear dresses and play with dolls but are too "embarrassed" to do the same outside the house.

Gabriella, 33, and Joe Haughton-Malik, 34, said their five-year-old twins, Caleb and Kai, are perfectly happy choosing their own toys and clothes at home.

But having been criticised in the past by passers-by, they are "nervous expressing themselves" around other people.

"They’ve gotten embarrassed about wearing dresses outside of the house," Mrs Haughton-Malik said.

"Children make comments like, ‘oh, that’s a girl’s toy’, or ‘oh, you’re dressed like a girl’," Haughton-Malik continued.

She said this prejudice became apparent during a recent trip to IKEA when the boys were facing other shoppers' stares.

"It’s more to do with other people and other children, than it is about how they feel about it themselves," she said.

"I think that in their own space they are completely comfortable with it. It doesn’t faze them."

Haughton-Malik said her boys love playing with toy guns, cars, princess dresses and dolls' houses, as well as playing hairdressers together.

"We let them choose what they want to do, it’s something we’ve done from day one," she said.

"I want them to feel that they can express themselves and I tell them they look beautiful whether they are wearing trousers or a dress."

After the boys watched Disney's 'Frozen', they fell in love with the characters and couldn't wait to get the costumes of Anna and Elsa.

"We were in the shop getting some schools uniforms, and they saw these dresses," their mum said.

"They were just going nuts over these dresses so I bought them for them.

"They just love them, they spend a lot of time in them.

"It shows that they have huge imaginations. I think playing with dolls shows that they are caring people and hopefully if they go on and have children they will be caring parents."

The boys' dad added: "If they can dress up as pirates and Darth Vader and zombies, why can’t they dress as princesses?

“I think I’d be a bit of hypocrite if I let them dress up as somebody who marauds over the seven seas, murdering and stealing things, but I can’t let them dress up as princesses.

"They are very lucky to have lots of opportunities where they can do exactly what they want to do and have no limits on their imagination.

"I don’t care what they do or who they are, as long as they are happy."