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Should I buy my 4-year-old son pink shoes?

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  • Vaila
    Vaila Posts: 6,301 Forumite
    Aaagh wrote: »
    Just revisited this thread I started a while ago, which made me smile.

    My son, now 5 1/2, thinks pink is for girls and wouldn't dream of wearing anything pink. His favourite colour is now yellow!

    However, he still loves his hairdressing box and one of his favourite games is for me to look in the book he has made with cut-outs of different hairstyles and for him to comb my hair, put clips in and ask me if I've been on holiday or if I'm going to a party tonight ... :D


    you may have a little trevor sorbie in the making :)
  • ailuro2
    ailuro2 Posts: 7,540 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Thanks for the update.:D

    I remember when DD went through a phase of wanting to be a checkout operator - it lasted for a couple of years - she was convinced it would be a great career choice and great fun to sit and swipe everone's shopping over the bar code reader.:rotfl:

    She also used to love pink, now it is blue, green or black that are favourite, and pink is not to be seen dead in. ( she gets her brace elastics changed today and is having to choose their colour)
    Member of the first Mortgage Free in 3 challenge, no.19
    Balance 19th April '07 = minus £27,640
    Balance 1st November '09 = mortgage paid off with £1903 left over. Title deeds are now ours.
  • fantafan
    fantafan Posts: 1,457 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    It reminds me of my nephew one Christmas playing in his little sisters fluffy dress up shoes. His (police background) Dad went mental. They even do the boys don't kiss boys with uncles, grandads etc. He's nearly 12 now, he is probably gay but you can see he would have trouble coming out in later years. You cannot force people to be what they are not.
    My other nephew, he had dolls, the ladybug pushchair and will be as straight as they come. It's silly that we all get het up trying to conform with what society expects us to be.


    Hey ho. Glad you're all sorted now.
  • This is something I find quite disturbing about childhood and parenting at the moment. There is far more pressure now than over the last 50 years or so to force children into set gender roles, with segregated toy aisles, the 'pink princessification' of little girls, and so on. Although this always happened to a certain degree, it wasn't as strong as it is today, and I worry about the messages children are absorbing from it.

    Looking back at photos of my own childhood in the 70s, boys and girls wore virtually all unisex clothing, bar dresses. Our trainers were the same, our jeans were the same, our Tshirts were the same, or jumpers were the same...most of the games and toys we played with were unisex and no-one turned a hair if we wanted to do something that was a bit more for the other side. Hand-me-downs went from boys to girls and back again with no bother. I had Sindys with a full wardrobe and loved playing with those. I also had an action man with a terrific sabotage kit that I also loved. No-one found that weird. I was a tomboy but looked exactly the same as most of the other girls, who were also in very practical clothing.

    In the 80s when my son was little things had not really changed either. He had a pink buggy, 'cos I liked it, and a few pink clothes even as a baby.

    What happened? Why do we feel the need to force children into sex roles at such a tiny age? We wouldn't put up with someone telling us as adults 'oh no dear, that's just for men' or 'no, that's just for women' so why do we do it to children?
    Cash not ash from January 2nd 2011: £2565.:j

    OU student: A103 , A215 , A316 all done. Currently A230 all leading to an English Literature degree.

    Any advice given is as an individual, not as a representative of my firm.
  • kegg_2
    kegg_2 Posts: 522 Forumite
    Pink is a very "in" colour with teenage lads.
    My soon to be 13 year old has a collection of pink t shirts, plimsols and even a pink belt.
    He has pink laces in his footie boots and is no way a girly type of boy. He is very sporty and a real blokey type of boy.
  • Sublime_2
    Sublime_2 Posts: 15,741 Forumite
    Sorry, just found this thread, and not read all the pages. My (just turned) 3 year olds favourite colour is pink, (sometimes purple).

    I feel quite strongly that I am not going to deprive him from liking pink. If I do, it may cause a an issue. He used to have his sisters pink glo-e bear at night, although he now prefers his toy story go glow alien, and he plays with his sisters pink ponyville toys.

    He's a proper little boy, as he loves cars, and rough play, but he sees his sisters cute stuff, and quite rightly likes that too. His favourite thing is cars though.
  • ah, so glad i found this thread, my eldest is 7 and pink crazy. His first pink item was a toy buggy from ELC that had 'princess' in sparkly silver letters across the seat. He tells me every day how he is going to drive a big pink bus which he will live in with his 2 black and white dogs in my garden.

    he knows pink is for girls but he also knows his own mind and has never backed down from what he loves. i think that gives him such a good start in life that will help him deal with any muppet that feels it necessary to pick on him!
    Bow Ties ARE cool :cool:

    "Just because you are offended, doesnt mean you are right" Ricky Gervais :D
  • How about some pink slippers to wear inside the house?
    :love:
  • sassyblue
    sassyblue Posts: 3,793 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    My little boy loves all sorts of things, mostly cars, tractors and trains but he does love pink too which l don't mind at all, he's got a cooker and shopping trolley which he wheels his cats around in (he's cat mad too, he's longing for the day he can put our real cat in that trolley instead of his toys ones though!). He makes a bee-line for the wendy house at school everyday where he does the ironing, it's all part of development and copying what they see isn't it?

    It is surprising how these little children pop out already with their gender differences though, l had 5 nephews then a niece came along who was automatically drawn to anything pink and glittery. I can remember being absolutely amazed at this after all those nephews. :rotfl:


    Happy moneysaving all.
  • thorsoak
    thorsoak Posts: 7,166 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Reminds me of my little girl when she was just 3 - at school jumble sale - what did she set her heart on buying - and fought off half a dozen little boys to get?

    A pair of football boots!!! :D:D

    She grew up to be a determined little Madam - 1 girl with three brothers - but never played footie for England!
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