To dress my baby boy in pink

[rockinrobins]

I have a 7 month old son. The other day I put him in a pink outfit and shared a couple of photos. It's not a massively 'girly' outfit really - not a dress or frilly - it's just pink. It has other colours on it too but pink is the main colour.

It's not a handmedown from a girl relative - I bought it new for him because I like it and it suits him.

The photos weren't specifically to show off the outfit, they were just pics I shared because he was doing something cute.

My son's grandad (who is in his 60's) has reacted strangely to this. Not argumentative but just a sort of 'hmm, that's a bit unusual isn't it?' raised eyebrow reaction. Kind of quietly making it clear that he doesn't approve without outwardly saying it.

There's a lot of toxic masculinity in my family and tbh I do get sick of it and I don't want my son caught up in it. For example, when male members of my family see one another they do this weird macho handshake where they squeeze each other's hands really hard. I hate it. They have done it to every boyfriend I've brought home and they do it to my husband too - I can't stop them.

AIBU to just quietly assert that my son can have a softer side?

I don't want it to cause arguments or impact my son's standing in our family. But the truth is pink suits him and I like the outfit. He also has plenty of clothes in blue, green, red, neutrals etc - in fact this is his only pink outfit. Honestly I think it's all silly but AIBU?

You lost me when you said ‘my son can have a softer side’. Pink isn’t soft, and saying that perpetuates the stereotype!
Your kid can wear whatever you want to put him in until he has his own opinion. Plenty of adult men choose to wear pink. Who cares what other people think?

My 38 yr old son wore pink as a baby. He still wears pink now, and so does his son.

It’s just a colour!

We dressed our son in pink as a baby and he chooses to wear it (and paint his bedroom in it) now as a child :)

I don't think having a handshake constitutes as toxic masculinity. That's just the latest buzzword that's thrown around. I wouldn't dress my son in pink but dress your child how you want and pay no mind. Putting him in pink doesn't mean your making him have a 'softer side' though that's really odd. He can't even speak yet, you don't know what his personality will be like.

I haven’t rtft so someone will likely have said it, but to all those saying dressing him in pink won’t do anything for his ‘soft side’: actually research was done where babies were dressed in pink and blue, and adults spoke to them in markedly different ways, being more soothing with perceived girls and physical with perceived boys. So the shaping of what it means to be boy or girl socially begins from birth, and is affected by clothing. Good on you op, being part of fighting stereotypes, one little action at a time.

I agree there is absolutely nothing wrong with a baby boy wearing pink although I would draw the line at bows, frills & lace. My 2 year old grandson given his colouring would look lovely in pink. The trouble is out of all the children in the family both in this generation & the previous generation he is the epitomy of a little tough guy who suits his mother's choice of clothes more suitable to his behaviour & personality. He just doesn't suit the more feminine looking styles.

The term toxic masculinity mentioned a few times here is not an expression I support having met & dealt with toxic bullying people of both sexes throughout my life.