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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To buy pink for a boy?

187 replies

GrinAndTonic · 01/06/2015 03:22

So the backstory is that my DB and SIL (who is nice enough but is a 15 year old trapped in a 24 year olds body) have a 11 month old girl and a boy on the way.

SIL believes that boys wearing pink is wrong and girls shouldn't wear blue.
She has sold every single pink thing that DNiece has in order to buy blue things for the new DNephew This includes sleeping bags, socks, false washers etc. Any toy that is not pink and 'girly' has been given away. I paid a small fortune for those reusable nappies and they were sold as they were not pink.

Now I know it's not my child, money or decision so I'm not interfering. I have said that it's a waste but I was bitched about on FB about it so I'm keeping my mouth shut.

Anyhoo, AIBU to buy nothing but pink, yellow etc boys clothes and 'girly' toys for the new baby?

OP posts:
fiveacres · 03/06/2015 19:21

Which is why babyhood is a brief but wonderful time when they wear what YOU like Grin

If that happens to be a particularly horrific shade of pink, so be it.

Songlark · 03/06/2015 20:28

Why on earth would I be talking about a baby getting bullied. Seems obvious to me.

DisappointedOne · 03/06/2015 21:01

Point is if you as a parent (adult) did dress your baby boy in pink, who exactly would he be bullied by? By the time he's mixing with children capable of bullying, he'll have his own clear ideas about what he wants to wear, which may put pink off the options list anyway!

NurseRoscoe · 03/06/2015 22:59

I am pregnant with a girl after two boys and wouldn't go out of my way to get her things from the boys section, although she will have some unisex bits and as she gets older, if she takes interest in anything her brothers have grown out of she will be able to keep it! I do see both sides but YABU to buy things you know they wouldn't like out of spite, it's better to just buy nothing

ConfusedInBath · 04/06/2015 06:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 04/06/2015 06:30

Absolutely confused! All boys must be in blue and all girls must be in pink!
What are people thinking about other colours for? Imagine the utter humiliation if someone thought your boy was a girl!!! Imagine the bullying your toddler would get if she liked the wrong colours!

ConfusedInBath · 04/06/2015 06:59

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 04/06/2015 07:19

No no it has to be blue. Only gay babies wear other colours.
I know someone who got a baby boy a brown bear with a red scarf! Really disgusting.

ConfusedInBath · 04/06/2015 07:44

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 04/06/2015 07:49

Blue for boys- pink for girls. It's not about what people like. Those are the rules - everyone knows it.
I'm agreeing with you bath!

only on mumsnet do you get boys with dolls or girls in trousers! In rl toddlers who do that will get the shit kicked out of them and rightly so!

Sansarya · 04/06/2015 08:00

Honestly, have some of you not read the OP's posts? It's somehow gone from her wanting to buy something pink or yellow (a shirt, she said) for her nephew, to wanting to buy him a pink dress. She never said that! And she's also said that her SiL's reason for dressing her son only in blue is because she doesn't want "turn him gay". And I'm sorry but anyone who thinks like at has to be a bit of a thicko.

Sansarya · 04/06/2015 08:00

Like that, not like at. Bloody autocorrect!

ConfusedInBath · 04/06/2015 08:04

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WankerDeAsalWipe · 04/06/2015 08:15

How horrible. Are you jealous OP? That's the way it comes across. She sounds excited and wants to have her boy dressed as a boy. Just because someone has a different viewpoint to you doesn't make them worthy of your derision. I personally hate toys being coloured pink etc for no reason but if someone else wants to waste money then that's up to them.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 04/06/2015 08:28

It's disgusting isn't it!

A pink cardigan! Everyone knows boys who wear pink are queer! Boys in boys clothes only- that means blue only for boys.

ConfusedInBath · 04/06/2015 08:35

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fiveacres · 04/06/2015 08:35

No, it isn't disgusting. Smile It's unusual, though.

Children do have a sex when they are born. I know MN thinks at times they should all wear white smocks until puberty but those days have gone.

ConfusedInBath · 04/06/2015 08:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HazleNutt · 04/06/2015 08:43

My son happily wears this body, for example (Fred's World by Green Cotton, if anybody is interested):
I was looking for a wool body for him for the winter, this was on sale and I really don't understand why he should not wear it. It's a totally appropriate and comfortable piece of clothing for a baby/toddler, not like I'm putting him in corset and high heels. Yes it's pink, so what? Can someone explain to me slowly? He also has plenty of clothes in other colours, including blue - and yes I will use all of those clothes for DD as well, even the blue ones.

To buy pink for a boy?
Dukketeater · 04/06/2015 08:45

And you say SIL is the 15 year old trapped in a grown ups body...

DisappointedOne · 04/06/2015 09:05

Children do have a sex when they are born.

A sex, yes. Not a gender. Why has wearing a particular colour have anything to do with what genitals they happened to be born with? Would you say that only women should take care of children or do housework? No? Then why say they're the only ones that should wear pink? It's the start of a lifelong education about roles.

Candycoco · 04/06/2015 09:13

I foster babies and I find it quite difficult to buy a lot of things particularly baby equipment in gender neutral colours. So sometimes I just have to buy pink/blue stuff and any baby will use it. But it is definitely quite difficult to find gender neutral stuff that is not just newborn clothing.

DisappointedOne · 04/06/2015 09:28

Someone mentioned the "Bounce and Spin Zebra" toy upthread. That epitomises it for me. Zebras, as far as we know, are black and white. I'm not aware that any pink and white ones have been discovered. So why then have Fisher Price made a pink and white zebra? Why is there a need for it? Why would t anyone buy the one that looks like an actual zebra?!

Sansarya · 04/06/2015 09:37

Just because someone has a different viewpoint to you doesn't make them worthy of your derision.

I disagree. Saying that wearing pink will turn a boy gay is pretty derision-worthy and I don't blame the OP for being annoyed at this.

ShadowFire · 04/06/2015 09:55

I think you can get pink versions of just about any toy these days, Disappointed

We were looking for a toy lawnmower for DS1 last year. The first one we found in the toy shop was pink. I don't think I've ever seen a real lawnmower in any colour other than green or orange. But maybe the toy manufacturer thought litter girls would only be interested in a toy lawnmower if it was pink Confused

We got DS1 a more realistic looking green lawnmower in the end.