New parent not sure what to think about the endless pinkness.

I was chatting to my sister about this a couple of days ago and neither of us remember having much in the way of pink clothing as children. All the photos of me I'm in trousers and dungarees in earthy colours combined with bright primary colours.

This was inspired by a party we'd both been to with our DCs, a couple had brought their baby, just starting to toddle and they'd dressed her in a huge pink meringue of dress. I really hate it when baby girls are treated like dollies. We judged, I am unrepentant.

Ninth Was that an open invitation to PM? Have a 5 month DS

Blackcurrants - Next sometimes has pink (fuschia) stuff for boys. (supposedly - I couldn't find any sensible woolies for girls, got a next v-necked 'boys' one for DD. Her BFF had a similar but pale pink 'boys' wooly from marks. Both girls prefer various shades of green though )

Oh and in case I sounded a bit smug there - DS1's favourite outfit is a Batman costume, and he lives in self-chosen character/superhero t-shirts these days!

That sounds pretty credible to me, PA.
Certainly, from about the age of 2-3 until 6-7 children get very definite about what's appropriate/inappropriate for their gender and will also be the first to tell other children if they think they're "out of line".

Then you get another wave of it in adolescence as puberty makes young people more aware of their gender again and want to delineate themselves as part of their anxiety to appear attractive to the opposite sex. (Doesn't take the form of liking pink at this stage, though!!)

I had very similar feelings to you Doodle, but in the other direction (I have two boys). I make a conscious effort to seek out neutral/bright colours for them, rather than the default navy/brown/camo stuff.

H&M is great for bright colours, and these bodysuits from M&S are gorgeous too - on my wishlist for DS2, who's 17 months.

Charity shops are good for unique bits/cheap 'designer' gear - I've found that Scandinavian brands tend to be gorgeous and non-gender-specific.

If you want to PM me, I'm happy to supply you with a free bag of lovely bits that my sons wore - I regularly get asked if DS2 is a boy or a girl, so I must have cracked this particular nut

The day DD was born, MIL turned up at the hospital with a pale pink babygro emblazoned with a "Born To Shop!" logo, a bottle, a handbag and some shoes.

There was a facepalm.

She did have a pink phase, which (thank fuck) we are now through. DS2 had/ is having a pink/ sparkly tat phase too, but sadly for him the extended family refuse to pander the way they did with DD, so he has to content himself with stealing DD's stuff.

The whole thing drives me bananas.

I thought children went towards very pink or very blue once they are aware of their sex but before they realise their sex is fixed. So they latch onto what they are told/think they should like.

or did I make that up or mis-understand it?

Little girls nowadays are herded towards pink from the moment the 20 week scan determines their sex, it's not surprising they self-identify pink as being for girls when they get old enough to make informed choices about what they (have learned to regard as) the most appropriate clothing for their gender.

The fashion for pink=girl is not "child led" IMO - I bet if everyone dressed their girls in green from the second they came out the womb (decorated their rooms in green, bought them prams etc. trimmed in green, gave them mostly green-coloured toys, plates, cups, cutlery, hair-ornaments, towels etc. etc.) then we would say "The little girls love green" when they opted for it once they were old enough to express an opinion on the matter. Because green would be seen as being intricately woven into their gender identity and the way they differentiate themselves from those different to themselves (boys). And you can bet your life that in that particular scenario, most boys (and their parents) wouldn't countenance green for themselves.

I was also indifferent to the colour pink as a young girl, mainly because at that time (not SO long ago!!) pinkification hadn't taken hold in the way it has now. It was just another colour.

Now it's too bound up with over-repressive gender-stereotyping and putting people into boxes.

mine wore pack-of-three white sleepsuits with white onesies underneath, and then were dressed in navy, white and red. all handed down to the next one. it made no difference. the world and his wife bought the girls pink and the boy blue, and they inhabit the same world as disney. by four both girls declared pink and purple were their favourite colours. fortunately, dd1 now favours green, and dd2 blue. they do grow out of it if you encourage individuality and don't force them either way. and ultimately (although thank feck not mine) someone's child really is going to prefer pink.

the pressure really wasn't on from the marketing pov when we were tots, so our parents didn't have to make any political statements wrt colour of clothing. it's just consumerism gawn mad over the last twenty years.

Apparently this dreadful fashion is child led. The little girls love pink. Flipping awful and very dull. Funnily, when I was a little girl I was indifferent to the colour pink and my favourite was blue. I also loved lime green and cherry red. All this pink is so damned boring!

OneHandWavingFree said what I feel with regards to motif's. DD likes dinosaurs, helicopters and diggers atm but it hard to find ones that aren't in dark 'boys' colours. I didn't buy the NEXT top due to the words, I think it was cute-a-saurus or summit, didn't mind the pink bit.

As someone else said when they are not in pink but a gender neutral colour then people assume your baby/toddler is male.

Like lifeissweet I personally prefer nice bright clothes which in the UK is hard to find. Had no problems in the US.

it is depressing when things that I would have considered 'gender neutral' (blue, green, yellow, red... heck, most things!) are shrunk down into pink for girls and blue for boys. I only have a boy but my experience for him was that the rainbow grew a bit as he got bigger- baby boys had pale blue EVERYTHING, now most colours (except for pink and purple) crop up here and there, though it IS hard getting past the sludgy camo-gear. I've always bought as neutral colours as I can, with one eye on it all being worn by DC2, of whatever gender that child might be. Polarn O Pyraet make gorgeous, great quality, brightly coloured kids clothes. If only they didn't cost a bloody fortune. I tend to scour their sales and grab any stuff I see of theirs on ebay, when needing new stuff for DS.

Do you know, when we decided not to find out the gender of our baby people were absolutely aghast, and the first thing most people said was "but how will people know what colour things to buy?" Seriously. It was so irritating it made me even more determined not to stereotype the poor thing before it was born!

I like pink and I don't think typically feminine-associated behaviours are less important than typically masculine associated ones (For example, why is sport considered 'serious' and fashion considered 'trivial'? Can anyone think or a single reason that doesn't involve institutional sexism?), but I don't like limitations and I loathe exclusion. Everyone can wear every colour. Colours are for everyone!

Pink lego just depresses me. Don't be afraid of the creative, scientifically fascinating toy of infinite possibilities! We'll make it pink so you can see that even girls can use it!

urgh.

It's easy to avoid. All our baby gros were white or yellow. We had lots of children and they all wore the same ones passed down. The first baby got stuff from jumble sales. Only people into being a consumer and with money to burn really fuss about clothing for chidlren. It is morally deficient to be too bothered about that kind of thing.

We did buy some feminist books when they were little - mother the plumber, mother a doctor etc etc I think that helps. Both my girls have picked pretty good careers.

I was adamant that I wasn't going to dress my DD in pink. I decorated her nursery in a brightly coloured jungle theme.

However, since she was born we've received gifts and hand-me downs which are all pink. She is in pink most of the time. She looks sweet in it, but I prefer her in bright colours. I just won't spend money on clothes for her while we have so many perfectly wearable clothes that happen to be pink. I am considering cracking out some fabric dye. What do we think? Does that work?

I have 3dds, at the minute Next, Sainsburys and Asda are doing a lot of non pink babygros, bottoms, tops etc. I was in M&S yesterday and they have a lot of greens, reds and yellows.

To be honest, pink clothes do not bother me in the slightest neither do pink toys, nor "character" clothes. Pink really suits my daughters as does navy, I am of the just a colour brigade but I know a lot of people aren't.

My DDs wore a lot of pink as I am too tight to buy things myself so hand me downs and gifts tended to be pink.
I don't like pink.
My DDs look better in blue. When I have bought anything I have considered it's reuse, so a navy/red/green coat will do for a boy or girl - little did I know that DD1 would be the eldest of 3 DDs! I hate toys that could be unisex turned into "girls" toys by colouring them pink.

Sorry, that last sentence sounded particularly sanctimonious. It's basically just how I justify my laissez faire attitude to myself.

I have a four-year-old who just may be a reincarnation of Barbara Cartland. She went to nursery this morning in head-to-toe pink, clutching a pink toy dog with a diamante collar and a diamante handbag (accessories acquired by her father).

As a baby, I rarely dressed her in pink (she looked so lovely in cream colours, sigh) but I didn't purge pink garments bought by family and friends. Nowe she mostly wants to chose for herself, and it's almost always pink or purple. I don't want to make it into an issue, I don't want to send messages of girly stuff = undesirable, and I respect her autonomy.

There is a lot of pink - but relative to what was available when I was a child there is also a lot more of everything else too.

I often buy 'boys' clothes for DD - T shirts are usually thicker, nicer cotton than flimsy 'girls' ones. She refused pale pink after the age of about 5 and I've never had to send her out naked yet

I seem to remember getting nice non-pink clothes from JoJoMamanBebe when DD was small (they did pinks but blues etc too).

As to toys - if there's a 'normal' one and a pink one, just buy the normal one unless it looks better in pink.

Congratulations

OP and others with pink-aversion (I'm one too - DD has some pink things, but mostly I go for other colours if I can) you may find the Pink Stinks website of interest....

And impending congratulations, by the way!

I think girls generall y have much more choice than boys

perhaps white and yellow clothes even purple red etc.

Buying boys clothes is the way to go, Not least because I have a son 21 months younger than DD. I buy as many primary coloured t-shirts and sweatshirts as possible and avoid 'princesses and monkeys'.

We still get them as gifts and do put the children in them, But they wouldn't be my first choice. (esp. matalans sparkly sequinned PINK evertything)