To put my boy in girls clothes sometimes

[hibbledibble]

He is a toddler, so doesn't care. I have lots of lovely clothes and that aren't overly girly. Is it ok to put him in these?

I'm not thinking floral dresses, but pink vests (under his clothes), a navy jacket in a 'girl' cut, red shoes. I think it's ok, but I am meeting resistance from others.

He has beautiful long lashes, and people often think he is a girl whatever he is wearing, but I don't see this as an issue.

In the real world absolutely not a chance in hell. On here - there are no boys and girls clothes. Funny I’ve never met a real life person who dresses boys in frilly pink outfits.

Nobody on this thread has said that. They've said that the clothes the OP described didn't sound like stereotypically girls' clothes and that they would be happy to dress a boy in them. In fact several people have said they wouldn't dress a boy in a dress or in overtly 'girly' clothes.

There's a big difference between on the one hand thinking that the culture of having specifically girls' and boys' clothes serves no useful purpose and being all in favour of letting people wear what they want, and on the other hand deliberately dressing your small child (who is as yet too young to express a clothing preference) in clothes which are at the far end of stereotypical for the opposite sex. I don't think even many MNers would do that, in spite of your snarky 'only on MN' remark.

Ugh you know full well what 'girls' clothes are! I feel sorry for the OP on threads like this.

That poster was pointing out like others that clothes are clothes. Why would it matter if a boy wore a pink vest, red shoes or a navy coat. I dont see why you should feel sorry for the OP she clearly doesn't care about putting her child in these clothes as she rightly understands they are just clothes. Sadly she appears to mix with some vocal idiots who think otherwise, that's the only reason we should feel sorry for her.

It doesn't matter at all, as long as he's warm and comfortable and you're happy. My mum used to put my brother in my old tights under his trousers in the really cold weather (when he was under school age) and she also used to put him in my old coats, I had a blue sort of wool one with a navy velvet collar and she used to put him in that. Also I put my DD in a couple of things that had been my brother's (yes we take good care of things in our family, these things were over 30 years old 😂) She wore a little navy corduroy jacket that had been his and a burgundy sweatshirt. I've just bought her some PJs from the boys section in Asda - they're the "boy" ones of this year's family Christmas PJs which are Mickey and Minnie Mouse. DD loves Mickey but the "girls" ones are Minnie so I got her the "boy" ones. It's not me saying which are girl and which are boy by the way - they were actually labelled girl and boy on the website.

DS is wearing pink striped leggings and a navy jumper today, not because they were hand me downs either because I bought a 3 pack of leggings and the pink ones were in there (they look red on this photo but they are definitely a medium pink) it's very difficult to find nice brightly coloured clothing aimed at boys unless you pay a fortune , he has a fair amount from Boden, Frugi, Kite etc but sometimes you just want M&S basics. Dress him how you please, personally I'd challenge the comments on the basis of outdated stereotyping based on sex, or something as blunt as 'oh I didn't realise wearing pink would make his penis fall off thanks for the helpful advice'

@TinySleepThief

Ugh you know full well what 'girls' clothes are! I feel sorry for the OP on threads like this.

That poster was pointing out like others that clothes are clothes. Why would it matter if a boy wore a pink vest, red shoes or a navy coat. I dont see why you should feel sorry for the OP she clearly doesn't care about putting her child in these clothes as she rightly understands they are just clothes. Sadly she appears to mix with some vocal idiots who think otherwise, that's the only reason we should feel sorry for her.

TBH the poster that said that I felt was setting a trap for the OP to fall into and therefore starting a massive debate about gender. If he/she didnt I apologise. It doesn't matter to me what kids wear. I felt sorry for the OP for first point I made.

I bought loads of things from the girls section for my 2 DSs. DS1 lived in leggings until recently (he's nearly 5) and still wears them sometimes but seems to prefer joggers more nowadays. Like PP have said leggings are comfy for crawlers and to wear while having a nap and perfect for toilet training. I bought DS2 a good few pink and lilac baby grows and leggings. I avoid flowery frilly things though. Those M&S leggings above are the kind of things I would buy.

I've noticed that. Ore and more boys are wearing leggings to school nursery now. Much more sensible than the traditional school trousers,

I wish somebody told me about leggings, only found out by accident with DS2

DS 9 sometimes wears "girls" clothes. They tend to fit his build better as "boys" tends to cut wider. He likes fluffy jumpers which don't tend to feature so much in "boys ranges" and the reality is that it tends to be reasonably neutral such as greys, navy with a pink zip that he and society seem to overlook. Occasionally there will be a bright or pastel blue t-shirt that he likes that again is reasonably neutral. He's not a pink unicorns kind of guy.

Incidentally, DS2 likes sequined tops and goes for the limited selection that turns up in the "boys" section. Children like what they like and we do them is a diservice with arbitary roolz such as "boys don't do fluffy or sparkly". Why restrict choices for no substantial reason?

Of course folk know what you mean, OP...
My MIL & SILS go all-out on the pink frills when a girl-child is born. It’s dinosaurs & trucks for boys.
My baby boy got loads of hand-me-downs, we didn’t know the sex before birth. So he wears anything, except dresses.
With lockdown, loads of friends were clearing out baby clothes, and I couldn’t get to the shops anyway.
And with baby not having much of a social life due to Covid restrictions... It makes no difference what he wears.
Except when seeing MIL & SILs!

I don't get leggings once they are crawling, walking, climbing trees, how do they not end up with holes in the knees?

DS fairly frequently wears hand me downs from his big sister, and some formerly white tops that got in the wrong wash load and are now a fetching pastel pink...

Some of the leggings have lacy stuff around the bottom, but they're navy so they will do.

The only reason he hasn't worn any of the pink leggings is that they are in no way fit to be handed down, plenty of holes in the knees. He's also about to catch up on clothes sizes so will need his own.

He will also be getting DC1's green and grey ski jacket with a pink zip because I am not replacing it for no reason!

My DH wears pink all the time. It suits his dark colouring. Nobody has ever said anything to him 🤷‍♀️

DS 3 chose his own trainers last week - grey and black with pinky orange flashes on them. The only comment I’ve had is from other mums wanting to know where I bought them. Oh, and from his male music teacher who wanted some adult ones for himself.....

I don't get leggings once they are crawling, walking, climbing trees, how do they not end up with holes in the knees?

Depends what you've got planned for the day I suppose, run around the park/climb trees (tracksuit bottoms or jeans), tumble tots session or sitting cross legged at the library for story time - l'd find leggings comfier.

Is it his father who has an issue with this? Is he worried he will catch ‘The Gay’??!

My only issue with this would be the shoes. Not the colour but you shouldn't put children in hand me down shoes. It risks damage to their feet as shoes deform from their original shape when they have been worn.

I think it sounds perfectly appropriate, just a bit hippy & stylish.

My son has chosen himself a pair of grey trainers with pink laces as inners. He has also chose a pair of pink wellies with a blue healed sole. He will be taking the wellies to school tomorrow. As long as he doesn't care why should I? I hope he continues to give no shits. My friend said she wouldn't and can't believe I have as he will look like a girl.

As most people who have had multiple children of different genders will tell you, it doesn’t matter at all. I still remember my little brother wearing white frilly socks at primary school he’d inherited from me and our sister! But the resistance shouldn’t surprise you, gender stereotypes are super ingrained even around tiny children. Plus these days they are exacerbated by a concern that maybe someone is trying to be too woke and raising their child to be gender neutral or something that will mess them up for life.

I do this with my children. I think it’s totally fine.

I'd definitely use the vests and jacket maybe the shoes if they were gender neutral.

The people I know who have mixed gender families tend to lean towards "unisex" type styles for stuff that's commonly handed down, eg coats, bikes, wellies. So the girls don't have "overtly girly" things and the boys don't have "boysy" things. That seems to work well.

Clothes are clothes. Given our consume consume consume approach to life some clothes are more obviously 'gendered' than others for no reason other than pushing stereotypes and getting parents to buy more stuff. Beyond that most clothing is reasonably unisex and nobody cares.

However, the fact you draw attention to his lovely lashes and how people mistake him for a girl makes me want to roll my eyes a bit.

Sorry op but the colour of a vest or the cut of a toddlers jacket really is a non issue. If people are treating it like an issue, they are the issue

If it is noticeably "girls" clothes and we all know what are girls clothes lol then no I wouldn't.

Are they red dolly shoes? Or red trainers?

There's a difference