to think its sexist to split baby, toddler and young kids clothes into 'for boys' and 'for girls'?

[entropygirl]

So obvs for older kids and for men and women there are anatomical differences that mean it is valid to split clothes by gender, but that difference does not exist for younger kids.

I think supermarkets in particular could do something better than reinforce gender stereotypes for babies...

Haven't read whole thread, only 1st and last page.
OP, I think YABU. You can dress your baby/toddler in whatever you want, sod the supermarkets!
When I was pg with DC1, I bought a lovely long sleeved top/vest thing, white embroidered with chocloate brown and beige bears. My friend said I was mad as I didn't know what I was having, and what if I had a boy? Well I did have a boy, and he wore said top, under brown cord dungarees. If he had been a girl, I'd have put it with a skirt! In fact, it's one of the few items of clothing I kept, as I still consider it 'neutral' even though I have 2 DS who have worn it.

YANBU, but as has been mentioned it makes sense for the stores to have you buy all new crap every kid.

Where I live everyone has pink prams and car seats and (Large expensive items that you normally save to make every kids regardless of gender use). I wonder how many people think about that when shopping for pfb.

psecretpsanta, you said exactly what i wanted to say

"I would rather challenge someone's attitude to feminity or masculinity than make my child neutral."

if anything, i could argue that in allowing my dd to express her femininity through her clothes, yet also still encouraging her to run/jump/climb/beat up her 2 big brothers etc, she is actually more likely to develop into a well rounded individual

You're over thinking this OP.
A lot.

I completely agree with the OP, am amazed that so many here are arguing its not sexist - of course it is! Seems to me that the tiny step towards equality won't be tackling the supermarkets and other retailers, but convincing a regular bunch of parents that there is something wrong and crap with dividing the world into girl's pink and boy's blue.

fastweb havent you been listening? you can buy things from the girls section too! It is allowed!

Ha!

My son was about 4 years old the last time he had no opinion about what he was wearing.

He wouldn't even let me buy him (unisex ...as far as I could see) trainers with a fabby shiney, glimmery, red side slash two weeks ago, cos anything even minimally sparkly "is for girls".

I think maybe you have overlooked peer pressure and childrens' autonomy once past teeny tinyhood.

I don't like boring colours, and I have a blonde boy so lots of light brights look good on him. And he wore them happily as a smallie. Even a lovely pink polo shirt, to match his dad's. He wore lots of lacy white knitwear for his rather belated christening without kicking up a fuss too.

Five minutes into kinder and he wanted mud/boring coloured clothes.... just the the rest of the boys.

At 11yo now my opinion about what he wears is not only redundant, it is the death knell on any item of clothing being approved of and making it to the till.

If there was a greater range in the boys' section, in terms of colour, style and decoration, more boys would be wearing it, and then DS might be less rigid about what meets with his approval.

Soz - got up to page three before what was left of my patience dribbled out of the back of my head and onto the keyboard. Can anyone summarise and tell me if the OP is actually serious or is she on a major fucking pisstake?

Thank you in advance!

So my son is going to grow up as a vicious foot soldier of the evil patriarchy just because Tesco's sold me a Thomas The Tank Engine T-shirt when he was 3?

FFS.

"convincing a regular bunch of parents that there is something wrong and crap with dividing the world into girl's pink and boy's blue"

i think you're going to struggle to do that, because i for one have thought about it quite a lot, and i don't have any issue with putting boys and girls into different clothing, so long as it doesn't restrict their choice of activity once in said clothing.

I wonder why people have preferances as to sex if they are all the same? Why do we have lots of threads with people desperate for a girl if it doesn't matter and they can just go to the supermarket and buy pink dresses for either?

I have 3 DSs and am perfectly happy with them-I don't have a desire for a girl, or feel that I have missed out BUT, had I had a 4th and a girl I would have got little dresses, she would have long hair and I would be buying a doll's house. She could choose later on, and maybe she wouldn't want any of it-but until then I would make the most of it.

Do they not get cut differently at some point?

DD, at the grand old age of 1.11 already has quite a womanly pelvis. Stood bare bottomed next to her (male) cousin of the same age their was quite a difference in the two shapes!

But OP how is putting kids in clothes they like treating them differently according to their sex? I really, really find your argument difficult to follow.

If I dressed a girl only ever in a tiny summer dress with no layers or coat in the winter because I didn't think it was important that girls dressed warmly, then yes, that would be me being sexist in the way I dressed her. But I wouldn't. Different does not equal sexist.

I wish there was less boring pink, blue, neutral stuff around, more jolly stripes, checks, tartans, spots, block colours, patterns, cheerful practical leggings and trousers and dungsrees, sweatshirts and tops and tees that suited girls and boys equally. I did dress DS in jolly babygros but would be nice if he could carry on with a wide colour palette. Dont think pastels and neutrals suit many children and toddlers.

So yanbu.

see, i have no problem with the clothes that are out there, and have never struggled buying stuff for ds1 (10), ds2 (4), dd(2). maybe i just like shopping, and clothes.

and the idea of putting them in "jolly stripes checks and tartans" is not at all appealing to me, but i see enough kids in precisely those kind of clothes to wonder why you find it so difficult to find them.

(then again i have a friend who insists there is NOTHING for girls that isn't pink, which is odd since my dd has tons of clothes, 50% of which are green, red, white, cream, blue and even, shock horror, brown... i suspect she's just a) not very good at shopping, or b) trying to bend reality to fit her ideology)

www.boden.co.uk/en-GB/Boys-Tops-T-shirts.html#nav

here you go, whole page of colourful t shirts

Seperat but equal then wilsonfrickett?

Yeah that worked great during segregation.. Why was that given up again?

Isn't there some rule about invoking boden in to a thread?

and indeed a whole page of hideous colourful and patterned trousers

www.boden.co.uk/en-GB/Boys-Trousers-Jeans.html#nav

i don't like boden, but a poster was looking for more colourful clothes, i am just trying to point out that there is plenty of that kind of stuff readily available

Ireaally ?

Bluezoo do cute things for children that I would consider bright and unisex

I like some of the bluezoo stuff, I can't read the debenhams delivery info on the iPad, does anybody know if the deliver outside of the UK?

From their shippping section

France, Germany, Spain, Sweden - £7.00 United States - £10.00 Australia, New Zealand - £14.00 Republic of Ireland - FREE on all orders. Delivery is normally charged at ?5

Any sign of Italy?

Be a bit mean to post stuff as far as Spain and then snub Italy.