I am getting increasingly worried about ds2 starting school next week. He is only just four and seems very young for his age, though in terms of skills he is doing fairly well and recognises sounds, letters and numbers. He is very shy, though settled in well at nursery (we moved earlier this year) and will be joined by some of his classmates. I work f/t and dh is a sahd and illness this year has meant we haven't done any playdates at all with people from our new area. However, we had a party for ds2 and most of those invited attended and he has been invited to a party next week.
Ds has an obsession with pink and all things sparkly and glittery. He adores Hello Kitty (though has never seen the show - I didn't know there was one until recently) he just likes the look of the the products. He wore a tutu to his party and has long, blond, curly hair.
He has a Peppa Pig backpack (though it actually has George on it in a rocket) and last week chose a shocking pink Sistema lunckbox, like ds1's geen one, to go in it. I feel so stupid for feeling like this but, having read through a thread on Chat earlier, I am worrying that this is going to make it difficult for him to fit in. Tbh, I have only been to the school a handful of times and dh doesn't notice this kind of stuff so it is hard for me to gauge whether it's the kind of school where this will matter.
He is very excited about starting school and, when we bought his 'big boy' black shoes last week he put them on with his lurid pink Hello Kitty socks and strutted around. I told him he wouldn't be able to wear the socks to school and he said, "What would people think?" which made me sad because it seemed like he felt I was saying other people won't like him because of the choices he makes - though I was actually thinking of the uniform.
Anyway, sorry to waffle. Should I be more actively steering him away from the pink and the glittery, as well as pre-school-type stuff, or not? An added complication is that backpack was a birthday gift from mil and dh (who I'm not getting on well with atm) will be furious if I suggest it's not suitable for school.