Gender roles

Niketa - posted on 10/27/2012

Hi, My name is Niki Bhatia and I am the author of a childrens book, PINK IS JUST A COLOR AND SO IS BLUE. It is about letting go of our old gender stereotypes about colors (pink and blue) and toys kids choose to play with. The main character is a little boy who is not too athletic and his best friend is a feisty little girl who is "tomboyish". Our ultimate goal is to assure that our kids grow upto be confident, productive individuals, without placing so much emphasis on color and toys when they are sooo young.Toys are just a means of exploring and learning about the big world. Don't we want our girls to be confident gogetters. So let her be confident and comfortable with herslef. We need to teach kids and parents to be more open minded....

http://www.amazon.com/Pink-Just-Color-So...

Sharon - posted on 11/07/2011

I have 2 boys, eldest just turned 2 and the other 6mths, so we haven't encountered it too much yet. But I don't go out and openly give him 'girl' toys like dolls etc, but I don't stop it either if that's what he wants to do. He has a kitchen, which he LOVES, and he has a few stuffed teddies that he plays 'babies' with, copying what I do. Our neighbour has a doll stroller that he always plays with, doesn't faze me in the slightest. oh, and he has an old purse of mine that he adores carrying around (but he is getting a wallet at Christmas).
He hasn't reached the stage of choosing his clothes yet, but I buy boys style clothes. I haven't really seen any pinks or purples in his sizes/styles so I dunno whether or not I'd go for them.

Denikka - posted on 11/07/2011

Thanks :) I really liked it too :P
I dunno about a PINK kitchen :P never actually seen one on sale. Just the regular colored ones, usually like...tan with a splash of like..blue or something. But I am super excited about getting the kids their own kitchen XD maybe then they'll leave mine alone XD

Vicki - posted on 11/07/2011

Denikka I've already bought my son a pink kitchen for Christmas. Aneirin loves toy kitchens at other people's houses and it was on special.

I love your kids names btw, especially Torin.

Denikka - posted on 11/07/2011

I don't push things one way or the other really. My kids are young enough that the toys seem to be generally gender neutral. My daughter does seem to love playing with her brothers cars though XD (only *his* because they're meant for an older child. She's 9mo and he's 2.5yrs)
When my kidlets can actually tell me what toys they prefer, I'll be doing my best to get those ones, no matter what *gender* they're supposed to be. My son has a fondness for cooking and cleaning, and I fully intend on getting him a kitchen and cleaning set for Christmas/his next b-day.
As for clothes, I will admit that we generally stick with *gender appropriate* clothing. Torin wore a lot of outfits that were blue, had sports or animals on it, that sort of thing. A large reason for that was because apparently people were unable to tell that he was a boy when he was an infant XD He had very pretty/feminine eyes and that made most people assume he was a girl. I honestly got tired of people asking, then arguing with me about my baby's gender XD
Linnaea wears a lot of pink and, weather permitting, dresses :P I admit it. I am fully exploiting the phase where she can't choose what she wants to wear. I was allowed to be girly or dress girly. I fully admit that I'm living vicariously through my daughter :P
But if she hits 3 and blue is her favorite color and she is completely in love with cars or robots or whatever and that's what she wants to wear, I have no issues with that.

Vicki - posted on 11/07/2011

Same as you. My boy's favourite colour is pink and he has longish curly blonde hair. His only pink clothes are sock and one t-shirt but he chooses them as much as possible. Plays with all toys (if he had a pink truck he would probably sleep with it!).

I wouldn't say I'm an extremist though. I have been socially conditioned as much as the next person and knowing there were pink and red options of the sandals I wanted for him for summer I steered him towards the red ones. His clothes are boyish on the whole, although I 100% don't care about boy/girl toys.

~♥Little Miss - posted on 11/07/2011

Essentially, my kids can play with what they want, and dress in the colors they choose.