to hate it that companies genderise childrens TV show merchendise? For example my SON loves fifi, but EVERYTHING to do with her is pink ..

[Disenchanted]

Now him wearing pink doesnt bother me, he has pink Fifi pyjamas and pink fifi vests! But I would like to be able to get him more boyish stuff with the programs he likes.

but why is all 'Roary the racing car' stuff aimed at boys, ect.

Why cant they make boys jeans / jumpers with Fifi on, and girls skirts with Roary on?

It makes me sad when we go into a shop and DS is pointing at the fifi stuff - how do I explain to him he cant really wear it becasue its a nighty or a skirt.

i just cackled aloud to bigbumhole as a name.
fantastic.
keep[ up the good work.

im wiht custy. my ds1 still ahs a rabbit suckss hsi thumb etc
btu if he said he wanted to wear a bob he builder outfit to school i woudl sat no

My son is only 19 months old and Im not Josstick.

hes 19 months

god they like crows and cheese at that age as well

I mean they like anything they are told to, find it hard that he is going to be gutted with bob tge builder instead

YANBU.

Even though I don't care for marketing stuff, it drives me potty that so much of it is not only genderised (good word, wonder what the Pedants would make of it), but also so clumsily done - girls=pink, boys=dull/blue. We try to get the toys rather than the clothes/lunchbags/etc.

As ds1 has said to me in clothes shops "Why are boys' clothes such boring colours?"

Hahahaha at "they like anything they are told to" at 19mo.

Maybe girls who sit still and colour while you plait their hair do, Enid

There seems to have been a real resurgence of gendered toys, clothes etc.

We still live in blissful ignorance of it all. ds1 has a healthy mix of train set and tea set, dolls' pushchair (at which MIL did comment 'What are you buying him that for?' and looked mildly alarmed) and soft footballs. He wears (IMO) neutral clothes, with plenty of bright colours - a fair bit of blue too, but it does suit him. Interestingly, my two are constantly being referred to as girls by strangers - 'how old is she?' etc. - possibly because they are not dressed head-to-toe in brown/blue/khaki and ds1 does not have ridiculously short-cropped hair.

dd3 likes crows and tractors more than any tv character

dont get my knickers in a twist about not being able to get pjs with crows on them though

Haven't read all replies, but yes@OP - agree it's highly annoying. My 3 yr old son loves Dora, Fifi, Pinky Doo, My Little Pony & Care Bears. All the merchandise / clothing is pink and flowery and would look completely ridiculous on my giant toddler boy. I did cave in and get him some pink Dora slippers at one point, though :-)

DS' fave things are peppa pig, angalina and dora he show's everyone who comes round how to dance like a ballerina.

I have film footage of a fantastic Sylvanian Families wedding party styled and presented by ds, 8 (who made me swear not to tell anyone at school)
OK, he was helping dd, but he was much more engaged by it all than she was - and showed a nice appreciation of tiny flower arrangement
He also writes short stories about huge guns, death-ray blasters, covets guillotine key-rings and has a huge repertoire of willy jokes
So long as Josstick's ds has the pragmatic sense not to chat about Fifi's recipes in the playground I don't see any problem with it
As bigbumhole says, it's like a comfort blanket
Josstick, I think your post has shown that there is room in the market for a non-gender-specific food and cookery show for 5s and over, though
Something I think Jamie Oliver could do really well

Similarly, Ds (2.9) likes pink (he said it was his favourite colour this morning) - but everything pink is very flowery etc and obviously very girly - I'd like a pink Tshirt or sweatshirt with a digger motif on it as he really likes diggers and it would 'counteract' the pinkness - or even purple ....

Marina - you mean like Big Cook Little Cook????

DS wont be told what he likes. He knows his own mind. Often that means dressing up in his sister's clothes (including hats etc).

If a child decided to tease him about it in the playground in a year or so when he goes, I've no doubt he'll show his masculine side and lump them one. Because, after all, he knows his own mind.

I have this issue. My daughter doesn't think the universe is complete because (as yet) we have failed to source a pink Dalek.

The search goes on. Not too strenuously it must be said, as she is more than happy with the three gold ones and the back one she has

Agnes

Urk no VVVQV, certainly not
That pair are revolting
I meant for older children, up to pre-teens
I know of several who have traversed the "don't like that" days and are quite adventurous in their eating etc, and interested in where their food comes from
Ds was shown an age appropriate extract from Supersize Me at school as part of their Healthy Eating project
Tigermoth's ds, who is a teenager now, has been a capable and interested cook since he was about eight or nine
I think children this age deserve a targeted youngster's version of something like the fab River Cottage Gone Fishing, or a less lubricious take on Nigella's Pimp my Dinner
AFAIK there is nothing on CBBC

Big Cook Little cook isn't cooking though. The stuff they make ranges from unappetising to inedible

Did you ever see Planet Cook? A bit better. But that Brian whatever is a lardy pain

LOL! I dunno.

I get mine involved with cooking at home anyway. THey are both fascinated by it.

Agree the best thing of all is seeing adults preparing and cooking meals from scratch...dd is still interested and helps a fair bit but ds has to be prised away from book, or TV
The Evacuation series CBBC did in 2006 got ds and all his classmates chatting about nettle soup etc, so TV can be a big force for good
Bing! Junior Masterchef. Except that I seem to recall some very annoying children on that

I think I know what you mean marina

Just to let you know that Michael Carrington, Creative Director of CBeebies will be online tomorrow so you can put these questions directly to him.
MN Towers

I think cod and enid and custy have good points. My DS is nearly 7 and fifi is far below his radar, and even if it wasn't he would know that it was not a topic for playground talk.

And I have never bought my children clothes (other than wellies, slippers, pjs and pants) with characters on. And they have never had character bedding - DS has a football print on his, and DD has a flower print on hers.

And LOL at hunker and the idea that 19 mo girls are more amenable and easily manipulated than 19 mo boys. Not in bozzaland.

I bet he'll say they let other companies do the merchandising and thus distance himself from sexist major league marketing. Betcha

I'm not bothered about whether you can buy character clothes or whether a 7 year old should be 'allowed' to buy girly stuff. I see this as being more about sexist marketing on a huge scale. Those marketing wankers pee me off.

Bozza, Enid has posted a couple of times lately about her DDs sitting still and colouring while she plaits their hair

I know not all girls are like that. I am a girl