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

I think both boys and girls instinctively tend to like pink.

Then boys are told they are not supposed to.

DS (4) loves pink but dd (3) prefers yellow. They don't know about boys/ girls colours but I spect that will change now DS starting school.

DS likes green. Dark green. He's stubborn as a mule a decidedly specific chap!

At just four he is aware of what he would call "girls" or "boys" colours though we have tried to reinforce that a colour is just a colour. He certainly went through a phase of liking bright pink and has always been ambivalent at best about blue.

Can't blame the chap!

Yes pink used to be seen as a boys colour in the UK and blue for girls. Entirely conditioned.

Peanut that is awful that your DH tells your DS pink is for poofs. It sounds like you object. Does he just refuse to stop saying it?

I believe most nursery aged children are drawn to that hot pink colour as most kids fight over it as they want to be the one to have it.

Not at all. I know a lot of pre-school boys who like pink. I think that it's an attractive colour to young children and that it is encouraged in girls and discouraged in boys.

My 6yo DS' favourite colour has always been pink despite my DP's side constantly telling him pink is for girls or 'poofs'

I've never went along with the blue/pink thing though on the most part I try to go for a more unisex colour (any other apparently) and dont agree with Lego for example getting multi coloured for boys and pink for girls, a toy is a toy!

Entirely conditioned, I think. Didn't the Victorians have it the other way round?

Makes me mad when parents won't let their child have anything with the 'wrong' colour.

It's been interesting watching the preferences of my DC. DD went through the pink thing and is now 6 and vehemently anti-pink (partly because some of her friends are!). DS became aware of colours when DD was in the pink phase and because she wanted the pink cup, bowl etc, so did he. His favourite colour is still pink and I wonder whether this will change when he starts school. I couldn't give a monkeys - all I have ever said on the subject (OK, admittedly, many, many times) is that boys and girls can like whatever they want.

I quite like pink as a colour. But the use of it to show 'this is for girls' makes me feel queasy.

They certainly don't all. DD loved all things blue from a very young age. She only prefers pink over blue now she is at school and the peer pressure has got to her (although she still has phases when she goes back to blue). I believe it is societal, after all it is a modern custom to have pink for girls and blue for boys. If it was innate I would have expected it to have been a prevalent custom for a long time across cultures.