This is Holly.

A cute little chicken really.   We got Holly when she was just a few weeks old. She was white and cute and fluffy.

But after a time we noticed that her waddles grew (those dangly things under her chin) and her comb got bigger.

Holly was not a hen.

Holly is a rooster.

Which puts us in an awkward position. See, Holly is a girls name.

So, we changed the name, to Hank.  A manly mans name. Much more “rooster-ish” than Holly.

Except, we have a very conscious and aware 5 year old boy in the house.

My son took me aside the other day as I was holding “Hank” and reminded me that no, his name is “Holly”.  I, being of the generation I am, replied, “Holly is kind of a girls name, so we thought we would change it to Hank”

(I am starting to think I should have just called this post Hank and Holly)

My son stared me down and reminded me that:

• There are NO girl colours or boy colours.
• There are NO “boy things” or “girl things”  I mean, one of the girls in his class has a rock tumbler and he wants a rock tumbler too… so why can’t they BOTH have one? (this was his actual example)
• And most of all, there are NO girl or boy names.  Anyone can have ANY name they want.

Yes Silas, I stand corrected. You are very, very right.

Needless to say, the rooster remains “Holly”  and he proudly carries his name around our chicken coop, and we will be okay with that.