Do you thik boys/girls instinctively like the colours blue/pink?

but the girls just naturally choose pink and ballet and the boys all naturally love blue and football right?

there is a local baby ballet school which is obv not doing well because they're out on the street all the time handing out leaflets.. maybe if they.. oh I dunno.. DOUBLED their target market by including boys they might do better???? just an idea who will only hand a leaflet to friends I'm out with who have little girls with them, never to me and DS - he is USELESS at little kickers (prances around like a sugar plum fairy) but LOVES dance and drama!

I REALLY hate them, they totally ignore him and coo over how "pretty" my friends little girls are while chatting to THEM about dance

Yes I know you'll say you would all give em a tongue lashing, but TBH they make me SO STABBY that I am too busy holding back the incredible hulk inside me to speak!

It is a bug bear of mine! If an adult took a pink toy/ cup out of my son's hands I would give a real tongue lashing. DD1 was obsessed by pink and is now coming out the other end and I hated it. At home, we mix the plates and cups up to make sure they are not along current gender specific lines.

It's the same when, if my children are hurt and someone tells my son to 'man up' or to 'big, brave boy' but then gives comfort to my DDs. It really irritates me.

its totally conditioned

DSs nursery staff says that all small children fight over the bright pink toys, but once they start understanding a bit more they pick up the boy/girl thing but its NOT instinctive

when I was a wee girl my fav colours were blue and purple, and everyone had different favourite colours, not its that you are assigned a main colour based on your sex!

I've had someone take pink toys out of my small toddlers hands and go off to find him something blue - what is WRONG with these adults???

May I refer you to www.pinkstinks.co.uk/ DD hated pink. And was I delighted?

Of course it's not instinctive. I agree that all children like pink but boys are discouraged from doing so whilst girls are the opposite. Both my ds's went straight for a pink sparkly pair of shoes when buying their first pair. Both of them say red is their favourite colour.

I remember being in Toys R Us one day and seeing a little girl trying out a scooter. Her mum took it off her and,saying"you need the girls' one", handed her a pink version. What is the point???

DS was never terribly attracted to bright colours. Always pink (though I think probably true that any red tone was attractive to him)

All colours can be equally bright though (.i.e. reflecting the same amount of light) I.e. bright grey, bright khaki, bright beige etc... But there is something particularly interesting about pinks and reds - they 'pop' - I think this is an instinctive/in built human thing. It's not something inherent in the wavelength of the colour.

Don't think it is hugely more in boys or girls - that seems like social influence as they get older and learn about 'acceptable' colours.

"IME most very young children gravitate towards pale pink."

I'd always assumed they'd have been more drawn to bright colours? Funny the things you assume

you are right minipie. We have a lot of work to do out there

Of course they don't. There are plenty of cultures even today who don't do this ridiculous pink/blue thing - I have plenty of photos of DS as a baby kitted out totally in pink.

IME most very young children gravitate towards pale pink.

Of course they don't.

But I bet if you posted this outside Feminism you'd get numerous tales of how it must be innate because "my DD loves pink and my DS loves blue". Sigh.

god no, not innate at all!

all of my boys have liked pink and purple, at age 7, ds3 still does. they just see it as a colour.

ds4 who is just 4is the only one who sees pink as for 'girls' and i think he got this from pre-school as we have never said certain colours are for girls/boys and i actively avoid stereotyping in this way!

i also think its rather crap that your sister did that tbh.

Definitely not instinctive. Neither is being a 'girly girl' IMO.

Of course it's not innate.

But since our babies are gendered by colour even before they are born (people buy you blue or pink stuff, depending on what you tell them) they quickly catch on. If from day one of your life you slept on pink sheets, wore nappies with pink flowers, were given pink clothes to wear and pink toys to wear and were never, ever allowed blue, you would soon get the message.

Sad that your sister did that. What else is she going to stop him from doing because it's not what boys do?

Definitely not instinctive. Both my sons love colours in the red, pink, purple family. I have always colours in the blue family and despised pink (despite being personally described as "girly").

not instinctive. DS3 is 3 yrs old and currently sporting a bright pink plaster cast- he thought it was the nicest(?brightest) colour there.

By the time he is 8 he will probably be like his older brother who asked why he had a "girls" cast on.

Of course it's not instinctive. That question could only be asked in the last couple of decades. It would not even have been asked when my 'children' - now in their 40s - were small because pinkification as a marketing device was unknown.

100% market and stereotype driven.

Of course it's not instinctive.

DS2 likes pink best. DS1 picked a large pink outdoor toy... But still talks about pink and purple as girls' colours.

Of course it's not instinctive.

DS2 likes pink best. DS1 picked a large pink outdoor toy... But still talks about pink and our

peanut - Glad to hear that it isnt your DP and that you dont need to have much to do with these relatives. They sound awful.

Brains sorry its not DP its members of his side of the family, not all but some.

thankfully we live 300 kilts from them so not really much of an issue when it dies occur though DS has my full permission to answer back with 'grow up or shut up"

The pressure for girls to like pink is everywhere. Not only is it practically the only clothing colour available - especially when it comes to shoes (Clarks do pink and purple with one red shoe style which ends up being impractical because it clashes with all the pink stuff your DD will have been bought by other relatives)

I work to make sure my DD has as many non-pink clothes as possible but it's a constant effort - like you're fighting against the tide. And people tell her she should like pink all the time "which one do you want? The pink one? Of course you do!" She told her pre-school worker her new room was pink because she was asked if it was. It isn't, actually, it's got pale blue walls and pink bunting. She does actually really like pale blue. But it's as if she's not "allowed" to. With all that pressure on them to like pink, girls do. And then people say it's "natural" that they do. But it's really not the case at all.

I remember one time in a department store DD (then about 18 months) was attracted to some cartoon character towels which were hanging up. She went to the orange one, then the blue one, then the pink one. And then DH said "Did you see? She's gone towards the pink one!" People see what they expect to see.