I was pushing Brady in the shopping cart, picking up a few things from the store. We went to the Halloween aisle to check for Minnie ears for Paityn and grab a trick-or-treating basket of some sort. I thought it would be cute for Brady to use the old fashioned plastic orange pumpkin with a handle. I found them, picked over blue and green ones and grabbed orange.
“I want da pink one!” he said.
“Oh no buddy, you don’t want pink! Let’s get orange.”
We continued on and passed another section of pumpkin buckets. He pointed and exclaimed, “Pink one! I want dat one. I want dat one, mom.”
Again I told him no, and giggled as I muttered under my breath about daddy being unhappy about him coming home with a pink one.
“Boys can’t have pink ones? Only girls?”
And then I felt bad. I thought, maybe I should go back and just let him get the pink one. Captain America wouldn’t look too silly toting a pink pumpkin bucket, right? But I didn’t, I kept going, only to hear him ask for the pink one no less than four more times.
I totally regretted that choice once I got home and wished I would have let him have the damn pink pumpkin bucket. What makes pink a “girl” color, anyway? And even if it is a “girl” color, who cares? Give me one good reason why my sweet two-year old boy can’t have something that is colored pink. I’ll tell you why, because somewhere along the way pink became a color for girls and he is not a girl. That’s it.
And it wouldn’t go the same way again.
What would you have done? Do you let your little boys have “girl” toys?
Sher Bailey is a writer in the Midwest who believes the power of humor, Mod Podge, and grandkids can fix most problems in life. You can find her at SherBailey.com.
Ashley says
we have those same buckets, my inlaws bought a green one for my son and a pink for my daughter, but my son really wanted the pink one too! we didn’t let him because it was his sister’s but my husband is all anti-girl things for him (wylie loves trying on his sister’s headbands, but my husband freaks out about it – he just thinks they’re pretty flowers!) right now all of our toys are boy stuff so i’m interested to see if he’s intrigued by more girly toys
Ashley @ ThisUnscriptedLife says
When my son was about 2 he wanted a baby doll. His friends that were girls all had lots of them so of course he wanted one too. One day at the store he was whining and whining for one and I kept saying maybe next time. I kept questioning why I was doing it. Giving him the doll wouldn’t be the end of the world. I knew my husband wouldn’t be too happy about it though. I was really mad at myself for for trying to steer him towards the “right” toy. I got him a small cheap boy doll. He loved it. My husband like I said wasn’t thrilled but he got over once he saw the baby driving Noah’s dump truck. He is 6 now and could care less about baby dolls. He will play house with them if he is at a girls house but he hasn’t asked for a doll in a very long time. I don’t see anything wrong with boys playing with what are “girls toys”. I think it’s sad that a boy won’t play with what could be an amazingly awesome toy just because it is pink or purple.
Jessi says
My son is almost 5 and when he was 3, he went through a time where pink was his favorite color. I didn’t care then and I don’t care now (though his favorite color is now orange). He plays super heroes non stop but also plays house and babies with his sisters. If the girls want to play trucks or super heroes, they just do too. We don’t gender stereotype in our household. I feel that it’s important. Plus, plenty of boys wear pink stuff these days, as far as the color thing goes. It’s the “cool” thing to do supposedly 🙂
Bomb in A Birdcage says
I definitely would allow my daughter to play with stereotypical “boy” toys, so it would be unfair to not allow my future son to play with “girl” toys. I don’t believe in gender stereotypes (once they’re old enough to understand anyway, I’m keeping my girl in the cute girl clothes until she starts to complain ;)). I want all my kids to do what makes them happy 🙂
Alankar Mishra says
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Alankar Mishra says
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