Op-ed: My Son Likes Pink. So What?

[Shana A]

Op-ed: My Son Likes Pink. So What?
The first step to stopping bullying? Rejecting the idea that pink is only for girls.
BY Niki Bhatia
November 23 2012 4:00 AM ET

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2012/11/23/so-what-if-my-son-likes-pink

When my younger son was 3, he loved the color pink. I bought him a Dora the Explorer doll, a stroller and a couple of other dolls he asked for. While in preschool, he wanted My Little Pony, Littlest Petshop and Zoobles, which apparently were marketed mostly to girls. Then one day, I heard my older son telling my younger one that he was "like a girl" because he liked the color pink and enjoyed playing with the kitchen toys. After hearing him taunt his brother, I had to have a serious talk with him. In my mind, teasing like this is what leads to bullying later.

I tried to explain to my older son that they are just toys, and pink was just a color like red or blue. I told him how he also liked the color pink when he was little. I needed him to understand that toys and colors did not define who children are. Colors were just colors, and toys were just a way for young children to learn about the bigger world around them. Their father loved to cook, so, I asked, what was the big deal about a little boy playing with the kitchen set? My two boys became the inspiration for my book, Pink is Just a Color And So Is Blue.

In many places, anti-bullying and anti-teasing education often starts in middle school. Unfortunately, by this age, many kids already have an engrained set of beliefs and ideals.

[Apples Mk.II]

I usually tell people "pink was considered manly until somebody in the marketing department created the idea of blue - boys / pink -girls". I think it happened during the thirties?


I'd rather have my children playing with MLP rather than weapon replicas. They are just toys, but our society is so damn stupid...

[eshaver]

Ya know , I'll probably never get a straight answer to the age old question of "Stereotypes " but this is definetly one of them, The color Pink. In society , peopleconsider a woman who can rope a steer, drive a Pick Up truck and fix a gasoline tank as Kwell. You let a guy want to express himself in the kitchen, design a room, an horror of horrors , want to be a NURSE! Oh my goodness !!!!!!!! Ya know , this sillyness needs to stop ........... ellen