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

jackieb

When my son was young he had a pink pin-striped shirt (with white collar and cuffs) he wore with a pink tie. He also had a pink polo shirt. This was in the eighties though - and his dad had a matching pink v-neck sweater.

He's 24 now and still wears pink t-shirts. He's never had pink shoes though. He's definitely not feminine in any way, shape or form!

hollydays

Re gender stereotyping- well actually not,just plain insanity-i saw Next were selling a few toys.They had a toy IRONING BOARD!!!!!!!!!!

Oh what fun!!What child ,boy or girl would want one of those,ironing is the work of the devil.Anyone encouraging a love of it should be certified,preferably with pink straitjacket

moneysavingfamilycomp

hi i would say think about your childs personality if you think he's confident enough to handle any ignorant bullies then i would say go for it get him pink shoes and if he wants to wear them for nursery so what. on the continent pink is still classed as a boys colour in italy they sell beautiful little boys outfits in pink. and at the turn of the century in this country all babies and toddlers up to about 4 year old wore dresses with pintucks and lace no distinction was made of their sex until they started school. my son is now about to start training as a mechanic and loves football and darts and cars but when he was little along with all his 'boys' toys he had a pushchair + doll a play kitchen and tea set. i figured if he wanted them why not it may just make him a better husband for someone in the future lol.

Crispy_Ambulance

I think it is really sad that posters are saying you shouldn't buy them.

If your son wants the shoes and you can afford them, then buy them for him. When my son was 2, he lay on the floor in Tesco and howled until I let him choose the pink sun hat with sparkly bits on that he wanted. He wore it for 2 years and loved it.

I am quite shocked at the assumption some people have that he would be bullied and therefore you shouldn't buy them. If that is their attitude, no wonder kids are having gender stereotypes forced down their throats. It is people who assume there is a right and wrong way to be a boy that enforce those ridiculous ideas.

And what does it say about the attitude to girls that anything "girly" makes a boy worthy of ridicule? Are these people saying that girls are so worthless that boys can't be seen to be like them?

Buy the shoes and make your lad happy.

KellyWelly

Dolls and tea sets and 'girly' toys are really important for language development - babies have to be able to realise that things can represent something else - a doll can represent a baby, for example, before they can understand that words, or sounds, can represent a concept or an object. Letting little boys play with dolls and prams etc will help their speech development and social skills.

Apart from that, what's wrong with pink? A colour is just a reflected frequency of light at the end of the day. My (now 7 year old) son went through a stage of wanting everything in pink. We went along with it and he hasn't grown horns or killed anyone not yet anyway. I wonder, do all the ladies on here who are upset about the thought of a boy wearing pink stay at home and not work and home cook every meal and submit to their husbands and never wear trousers? If you're saying it's tradition then surely you have to do everything traditionally? You can't pick and choose...

foxxymynx

I see nothing wrong with buying shoes with some pink on for boys if he likes them, so long as they weren't specificly girls shoes, there's boys shoes with pink on. I wouldn't get shoes that were totally pink or white and pink though.

I think he's strongly influenced by his cousins tastes at the moment perhaps? Maybe mixing with more children, boys and girls may broaden his interests a little?

tomstickland

I like pink.
I've got a pink kettle and I want my bike frame resprayed in bright pink.
Because it's just a colour and I love the way it seems to excite people.

Oh, I do love it.

jellyhead

Crispy_Ambulance wrote: »

And what does it say about the attitude to girls that anything "girly" makes a boy worthy of ridicule? Are these people saying that girls are so worthless that boys can't be seen to be like them?

Good point, and girls don't seem to get half as much stick if they want to be 'boyish'.

Krystaltips

I bet all the other boys in the playground bully you Tom

(I love that kettle!!!)

UKTigerlily

Kids will be bullied whatever they do, it makes no difference if they wear pink or whatever, and maybe if the parents of the kids bullying didn't make issues of things like boys wearing pink, their kids wouldn't either. I'd much rather see a boy wearing pink than a girl playing with a doll. As a kid I wanted a transformer, and got one. I'm not a lesbian now at 30! Even if a child turns out to be gay it's not gonna be down to letting them have those pink trainers at 4, and so what if he does end up gay?

I think children should play with what they want to regardless of gender, why do they need to grow up with their parents stereotyping them from day 1? TBH it's not a case of they'll get bullied it's the parents making an excuse to not give the child a traditionally opposite gender item of clothing or colour or toy.

I imagine most children are bullied at some point unless they are the bully, and I bet it's not down to what colour they wear!