to want unisex toys???

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

As a mum of a 2yr old boy and 10mnth old girl, (15 mnth age gap) next year we were planning on buying them a cooker to share, and to my HORROR elc now does it in blue OR pink NO unisex option!!! I don't want there expensive wooden red one, the plastic noisy kids paradise looking thing is the one ds is obsessed with!!!

they have a lovely multi color one of display but you cant buy that one

I am coming across this constantly, go to buy pop up tents for ds and can only find pink or blue, I DON'T WANT TWO SETS!!!!

and it continues, Even the elc whizz around garage is now in pink!!!

Its nice sometimes but enough is enough, keep the unisex PLEASE!!!

[littlemisslozza]

Totally agree, YANBU! I especially hate all the pink princess stuff around, far too much of it.

[mrsgboring]

Yes, this is a revolting marketing technique. I have two DSes so it doesn't affect me personally but still deeply annoying.

Two things you can do, which seem to help a bit:

Ruthlessly buy boyish things for the girl and girlish things for the boy and have a family culture that it doesn't matter (hard to do)

Also, frequent Nearly New Sales etc. for toys - either other people are shopping geniuses or this sort of thing was less prevalent even a few years ago, because I don't find it nearly such a problem among secondhand stock.

Stop going to ELC they are the worst for this sort of thing, and will only stop doing it if people boycott them.

[mrsgboring]

Okay that was three - am posting in a hurry

[MissM]

This is a real pet peeve of mine. Why do toy brooms come with pink or blue handles (and the blue ones are invariably 'out of stock')? Why do toddler bikes come in pink and blue? What's wrong with yellow, or red, or green, or orange or....? Really, I would love a representative of these companies to come and here and explain why it's so impossible to use these colours (but know the answers will probably make me very depressed).

[flowerybeanbag]

We have the blue and red one for DS, and I would have bought the same if he'd been a DD. I would describe blue and red as fairly neutral tbh.

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

i just realised we have ONE unisex toy in the house, ds smart trike is orange yellow and green, however dd will need her own so thats no use! I dumped elc a while back and favour an independant toy store we have But ds is allowed to play in elc as a treat and he loves that darn cooker so so much!

I use the nct sales evertime i can get to one, doubt id get hold of the unisex cooker though, im in such a huff in considering writing a letter!

[Hulababy]

I would say the blue and red one in ELC was pretty much unisex. I can't see anything overly feminine or masculine about it.

Toys R Us have nisex ones; here and here, here and more

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

if they dont change it by christmas they will have the blue and red, But still, i know thats the 'boys' one and it harasses me that they changed a toy that was perfetcly good and suitable for all oh and pushed the price up!

[mumofeve]

No YANBU. This is the bane of all parents with DDs and DSs. We looked EVERYWHERE for a bike that wasn't pink or blue. We had just about decided we would have to buy a blue one for DD (to then pass on to DS) as it is more accepted for a girl to have a blue bike than a boy having a pink one!, when we finally found a green and orange one thank god! It is ridiculous. It is stereotyping at best and at worse, a cynical ploy to make parents buy 2 of everything. Grrrrr!

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

i just know if we get the blue/red one people will assume its for ds, i know its silly, but its for them both and it is just irritating!!!

My biggest bug bear is my bumbo, ds had a blue one a mil went to the bother of finding someone we could swap with, why ill never know, you cant see the colour of it when dd is eating she redecorates it for herself!

[MrsBadger]

yanbu

I was looking at a mate's ELC catalogue and thought how nice the turquoise kitchen stuff with red handles etc looked and how refreshing that it was neither navy nor pink

then tunred the page and found the whole lot replictaed in pink and lilac

like mumofeve dd is older so we buy her non-pink to hand down

[cleanandclothed]

Oh yes. DS is one so haven't really got into all this yet but everything comes in pink or blue. And while I agree that blue is more neutral than pink, I don't want blue everything but what really annoys me is if the blue one has (eg mothercare harness/reins) 'driving mum crazy' or 'mummy's little monster' etc etc and the pink one says 'princess'. Bring back red/yellow/green.

If anyone (like me) was astounded that even buying a white potty seems to be difficult/pricey - IKEA have white, yellow, red or black for less than £2.

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

im off to ikea, mothercare pottys left me disgusted and considering not having one, poor ds, its moulded plastic!!! No need for the fancy pants designs and the ridiculous price!

[tethersend]

I skim read and missed the 'uni' part of the OP title

But I hate pink universally, so my view is still the same

YANBU

[PortBlacksandResident]

You can get pink sparkly pritt stick as an option now.

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

LOL

[differentID]

Why are you so set against buying pink for your son? they make the stuff in colours that sell well and that's all pink is, another colour.

Which happens to sell really well. And not justr because the parents will only buy pink. it's because the children love the colour.

[Alambil]

I went into ELC to buy ds a clock to learn to tell the time (a proper wall clock)

they had a pink flower one or a pink flower one

I asked if there was a boy's equivalent, but apparently boys in our town don't need / want to learn to tell the time as they don't carry that option

WTF happened to a PLAIN clock in a myriad of colours that are neither "girls" or "boys" - why not make an orange or green or yellow or red or even, shock horror, plain wood......

Grrrr

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

my ds wont use pink, me and his dad taught him pink muslins, taggies and pink dummys were his sisters something a 15mnth old could understand. and have caused a bit of an issue for ourselves, BUT its made our life easier in the long run the pink crayons get handed to her and so on, and i personally dont want to buy pink for him anyway, its clearly for girls no matter the fact that years ago it was a 'boys' colour i dont mind blue for dd, but when i know its ment for a boy it irritates me,

Yes as dd grows up choosing the pink option for her will possibly happen she already has some pink vtech toys which she strangely prefers but i wont encourage it!

i was just pointing out my frustration at the lack of options clearly ment for BOTH sexes! i know a set of boy girl twins, cant be much fun attempting to buy for them!

[Plonker]

YANBU - I have 3 dd's and am drowning in a sea of pink!! In fact, I refuse to buy it now. I tend to stick to reds/yellows/greens and blues. Not because of any gender stereotyping issues, in fact it's for no other reason than I seem to have developed an irrational hatred of pink!!

I do agree with diffid though - pink is just another colour and boys seem to love pink as much as girls ...even if their daddys don't!

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

lewisfan, we have that alot, why not carry unisex options and make the boy/girl ones order in etc? surely thats an easier option!

[notanumber]

LweisFan - Blooming Marvellous do a nice wall clock for boys as well as one in green which is unisex.

[beaniesinthebucketagain]

im not disputing theres many companys that do the fantastic unisex options but, Its ridiculous we should have to search online not be able to pop to nearest kids place, i was so pleased to see mothercares girls clothes range thats purple/orange/dark pink lovely autumn colours, i mean i love pink for dd but there becomes a time where its to much!!! same for ds i much prefer him in reds or green, he actually owns very little blue clothes!

[Firawla]

i think the blue/red one in elc is unisex