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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think toys should come only in pink or blue?

25 replies

babybouncer · 19/06/2013 22:12

I'm not a fan of pink, but even with DS I get really irritated when my only options for things are pink or blue.

Partly because if I buy one for each kid dd will get stuck with pink
Partly because if I'm buying things for 2 brothers or 2 sisters, they have to have the same where if the colour options were green or orange (to pick two at random) they could have ones that were more recognisable as theirs
Partly because I often end up buying the blue one for dd (to avoid the pink - yes, I really hate it that much, sorry) and then everybody thinks I'm making a big statement about dd being a boy when actually I just want her to have something a bit more interesting than pink

OP posts:

AmandaPandtheTantrumofDoom · 19/06/2013 22:14

Your post is the opposite of your title .

But if you meant should toys come in colours other than pink or blue, totally. Let toys be toys is on your side.

ExitPursuedByABear · 19/06/2013 22:15

I know what you mean

BlackeyedSusan · 19/06/2013 22:16

title: yabu
post: yanbu. toys should come in a range of colours. pink is ok, blue is ok, but only pink or blue is not ok.

wannabedomesticgoddess · 19/06/2013 22:16

YANBU.

DP seems disappointed sometimes when he sees really cool "boy toys" like fire engines or tractors because we have two girls. I am constantly telling him to just get the fire engine or whatever. I hate gender toys.

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 19/06/2013 22:16

I rolled up full of ire due to your thread title

But yes, toys of other colours are surely not so hard to make.

Original poster

babybouncer · 19/06/2013 22:17

Yes - sorry about the title, it's been a long day!

OP posts:

heidihole · 19/06/2013 22:19

Came on here for a bun fight after reading title.

Startail · 19/06/2013 22:20

DD1 isn't keen on pink, so DD2 tends to get lumbered with pink whether she likes it or not.

I always wounder what parents with several boys do. Does one get football and another pirates?

It is very silly and more choice would definitely be appreciated.

ArbitraryUsername · 19/06/2013 22:20

We were in toys r us lately and noticed that there is quite a bit of colour variety in the 'boys' toys' aisles (red, green, orange, yellow, black, grey, etc as well as blue); the 'girls' toys' aisles, on the other hand, were overwhelming to pink. It was really quite noticeable.

Note: toys r us is very clearly set up as 'boys' aisles' and ' girls' aisles'. There was even a sign explaining the the girls' lego could be found in 'the first girls' aisle' rather than with the rest of the Lego which is clearly a boys' toy by default, since it wasn't in any of the dedicated 'boys' aisles'.

NumTumDeDum · 19/06/2013 22:20

I will go out of my way to avoid pink and blue. Ds had purple cardigans when he was born. People asked if he was a girl.

I like to stealthily mix up the 'girls' and 'boys' fuzzy felts in ELC. Take that ELC

FrogsGoWhat · 19/06/2013 22:23

Hate gender toys.

DD (nearly 2) has always loved cars, trains and space rockets. So WTF do people (Yes DM I'm looking at you) want to buy her fucking pink dollies that only get used as something to crash the duplo rocket into...

YANBU

UniqueAndAmazing · 19/06/2013 22:24

talking as a materials scientist, it's just as easy to make toys in proper colours as it is in pink or blue shades.
all it takes is a different masterbatch.

I don't understand why it's so hard for manufacturers.
maybe they've run out of all the other colours and don't know where to get more?

DingbatsFur · 19/06/2013 22:27

I have boys who like neither football, nor pirates. We own a big pink Angelina Ballerina that DS2 cuddles. I bought my niece a duplo fire engine. Ha ha!
I am torn with lego friends as while it's great they are encouraging girls to play with lego it doesn't need to be 'sexed'. Lego was fine as it was in the 70s. You don't need horses or puppies or hair salons. You just need bricks.

McNewPants2013 · 19/06/2013 22:28

I don't know why pink is such a hated colour.

It's not the colour of the toy, but what it does.

NumTumDeDum · 19/06/2013 22:32

Trouble is, people buy them. And whilst there is a market it will continue. I have bought dolls for dd so I'm guilty myself. I try not to now.

ArbitraryUsername · 19/06/2013 22:32

What I don't understand is why the Lego friends can't be on the shelves with all the other Lego stuff; why does it have to be relocated to the alarmingly pink aisles?

There are loads of different colours used in 'boys' toys' though. Absolutely loads. Usually bright and bold ones, or dark ones (rather than pastel shades).

FrogsGoWhat · 19/06/2013 22:34

Pink is fine as a colour - but just as with everything else in life it's best in moderation!
It is sooooo difficult to buy girl's clothes that aren't pink. I wanted to get a baby girl doll for DD to look after while I look after her soon to be baby sister. They were ALL pink. No choice - that makes pink incredibly annoying.

IsThisAGoodIdea · 19/06/2013 22:36

They do it so that if you have a second child of the other gender, you will feel obliged to buy the other colour - ker ching!

If they offered everything in red, green, orange etc most parents would go for those colours for boy or girl.

FarelyKnuts · 19/06/2013 22:38

You need to join the campaign

let toys be toys

Fakebook · 19/06/2013 22:38

I bought dd a vtech digital camera about 2 years ago and the blue one was cheaper than the pink. Dd gets everything in blue because its cheaper. Don't know why. So yes, yanbu. I wonder if pink paint colour is more expensive because its not a primary colour.

Preposteroushypothesis · 19/06/2013 22:39

This subject makes me very ranty and people treat me like a really radical feminist when I say how much I hate the whole gender toys issue! It is so infuriating when I want to get a nice bright multicoloured toy for my DD and the only options are a dull blue or green one or a friggin bright pink vomit inducing one! Earlier today at playgroup my DD was playing with the dressing up clothes and another boy was there with his mum, he picked up a sparkly shawl thing and the mum actually said 'no you can't wear that, those are the girls clothes, you have to chose a boys outfit'. He can't have been more than 2.5, why deny him playing with whatever toys he wants to? What the bloody hell did she think would happen if he, god forbid, wrapped a sparkly piece of fabric around himself!!

NicknameIncomplete · 19/06/2013 22:40

I think everything should just be white as that isnt really a proper colour.

GrimmaTheNome · 19/06/2013 22:44

I don't know why pink is such a hated colour.
because of the sort of toys and clothes that tend come in pink. A crappier 'feminised' version of the proper 'boys' one. (oh! went to look for the famous ELC pink globe and it seems to have gone, hurrah!). The 'girls science' pink kits of bath bombs.

It's not the colour of the toy, but what it does.
yes indeed - its guilt by association.

HoneyDragon · 19/06/2013 22:48

I feel so sorry for all the puffed up Mnetters who rapidly deflated upon reading the op

estya · 19/06/2013 22:53

The early learning centre shop appears to be divided in half, everything on the left hand side is in pink, everything on the right is a kind of blue/green shade. There was even an area for dressing up clothes in each half, left hand side was a fairies and princesses, right was construction workers and doctors. This was about a year ago. I try to avoid elc now.

It makes me so angry. Are parents really that lazy that they need the shops to tell them what their children should be in to?

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