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

Laurenbelle

I more than likely replied to this post in the past but don't have the patience to go through it all again lol. My little boy, now 7, doesn't show any interest in dressing up in girls clothes but a couple of years ago the first thing he would go to in a dress up box was a princess dress. It never bothered me - we bought him a Barbie for Christmas because that is what he wanted.
I love him to bits

pinkpig08

When my son was 3 I took him to see Santa. Afterwards he was browsing the toys to choose a gift. He went past all the cars and trucks and picked...... a shopping basket! He used to love putting my beads on with the shopping basket over his arm! He's mortified at the thought now and doesn't like being reminded of it - it didn't bother me at all. When he started nursery all the boys would go straight for the dolls, bathing them and changing them - the girls hardly got a look-in!

Broomstick

Aaagh wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments, I haven't had time yet to check out all the links but I'm definitely going to get him some pink shoes. There are some great styles out there and I'm sure we'll be able to find something.

Good.

My boys (16 &18) wore the whole range of colours, including plenty of pink, when they were growing up and seem to have become really lovely, sociable, confident young men to be extremely proud of. If wearing pink had anything to do with it I'd recommend all boys wear it!!!

DS1, when he was 6, had long hair and a lovely bright pink sunhat covered in flowers. A conversation with an older boy (11-ish) in a playground went something like this (I was within sight but out of earshot at the time - DS1 told me after the event):

11yo: Are you a boy or a girl?

DS1: I'm a boy?

11yo: But your hat has got flowers on.

DS1: I like flowers.

11yo: Oh...

(Big pause for thought)

11yo: ...but your hat is pink.

DS1: I like pink.

11yo: Oh.... Oh, all right then.

and the older boy wandered off to be with his 11yo friend. There wasn't anything he could argue against and DS1 wasn't treating his questioning as anything more that another child wanting clarification. DS1 got on with his games. 11yo was a bit wiser. Nobody was bullied or hurt.

lorrishere

Bennifred wrote: »

I'm waiting for the day my DS1 (aged 23!!) conforms - everyone said it was a phase - that was 7 years ago! He has dreads which are currently dyed pink with black ends, and that's just for starters:rotfl:

I guess it is correct that you do not have to conform, but my own personal opinion is sometimes I tend to think that if you don't conform it can upset an awful lot of people (I suppose you could see it as their problem). I guess I feel sometimes that conforming is the kindest thing to do, as it doesn't hurt, as not all people understand that people can be individual, very nice and decent folk with it. In general I do think it's a good thing to be yourself though.