To reuse girls clothes on a boy

[BubsMaw]

Hi all, I'm new around here and this is my first post, here goes...

I have a DD (4yo) and a baby DS. I have all of DD's clothes in great condition, available for reuse, but in varying degrees of girlish colours/styles. Where should I draw the line in reusing them? If I had only my own opinion to consider I'd reuse the whole dang lot, as I hate waste and don't like to reinforce gender stereotypes (a lot of her baby stuff is fairly neutral, but as she's got older she's preferred very girly pinks, dresses etc). My main concern is that I don't want DS to look back with embarrasment or resentment, but I'd be gutted to buy the whole lot over again.

To be specific, what do you think of a boy using the following... pink vests/bedding/PJs - nobody will see them? Jeans with little flower detail, or brown clothes with pink trim, lilac wellies, pink bike/scooter - cost a fortune! etc. Thanks!

EH? Why should she, Emmyzone? He's a BABY! Who is going to ridicule a baby?? Or even a 3 or 4 yr old? It only becomes an issue once they're at school, and yes, at that age, they should get a say in what they wear. If he wants to wear pink clothes, fine. But if he wants to wear the same clothes as his peers, fine. Until they express an opinion, clothes should not even be mentioned. They're just body coverings.

DS wears a lot of DD's old clothes, uses her old bike etc. It seems wasteful to rebuy all this stuff just because of gender stereotypes. Lots of them are neutral colours, but some of the stuff is pink, which I generally keep for in our own house/garden.

We do have lots of black and white photos of DC for this very reason.

YABU. You will make him gay. Or at the very least encourage cross-dressing.

Daft, you are.

DD has got progressively more girly as she's got older, I don't think she can have done this as a result of my influence - must be her Dad's! I don't think I even own a skirt, had one for an interview once. Just today she was asking for a princess costume. One of her best friends is having a Disney Princess themed party soon, I know she'd love a costume for this but the whole Disney Princess thing makes me very uneasy. I think I'll end up just getting one for her as I know she'll love it, and in any case it's not all about me, at least we can reuse it on DS - value for money and all that!

D'you know what - I'm going to stick my neck out here. I'm a fairly laid back liberal type person, and I have a DD followed by a DS. I never handed down anything vaguely girly to him because I just wanted him to be a boy not a girl.

I had quite a lot of gender neutral stuff which was OK when they were babies, as I didn't buy into the totally girly thing anyway. But I wouldn't have done the jeans with a pink trim sort of thing, although I did manage to swap a load of clothes with a friend who had a DS followed by a DD. Now they are at Junior School, he would refuse anything pink (and for some strange reason, yellow) anyway. I just about manage the odd school sweatshirt and PE kit now.

Go through and seperate it with the stuff thats kind of neutral and the actual girls stuff, and then couldn't you try to swap the actual girls stuff with someone who is the opposite to you like had a ds then a dd, and you use each others left overs rather than your own? or else put it up on ebay and use the funds to buy some other boys clothes of your choice for him, getting 2nd hand if you are worried about the waste and cost? I don't think it's a good idea to just put him in very girly items, seems a bit unfair on him even if he is a baby and doesn't notice, but you should put the effort to get appropriate clothing for him as you did for your first dc that was a dd. It seems lazy to just re use all the girls clothes, I don't think its nice personally.

My 6 monh old DS is currently snuggled up in my arms in a pink flowery vest, blue top, green nappy and a pink sleeping bag. So I think it's fine. Yesterday he wore dungarees, a blue top and pink legwarmers.

'But why would you want to? There are lovely boys clothes around.

Clothing for girls tends to have pink / flowers / butterflies etc on and is not suitable for boys!'

You sound like my SIL, the one who married Mr LoadsofDosh and who has three holidays a year.

I can't stand how stupidly gendered most children's clothes in the shops are. And don't get me started on toys. I rang Babies R Us yesterday to check whether they sell pop-up beach tents. The first question the customer service lady asked in response? 'Is it for a boy or a girl?' What?! It's a bloody beach tent you ridiculous person!

Most of my DS's clothes have come from lovely generous friends who have passed on stuff from their boys.... I've discreetly filtered out the most obviously 'boy' stuff and dressed him in as neutral clothes as poss. But he's still mostly in blue... and no-one with girls has offered me anything

I wouldn't feel entirely comfortable with dressing a boy in clothes that are blatantly 'girly' - but then I don't like dressing my dd in clothes that are blatantly 'girly' either.
(Not talking about bedding etc obv).

If I was you I'd get the dylon out - if you're dying lightish pink things and trims they should take other colours well.

To avoid the issue in future make sure you buy neutral wellies, raincoats, jeans, t-shirts etc. IMO they're nicer anyway for both boys and girls.

I can't believe people are having this outdated conversation

That said, I wouldn't dress a boy in a dress. I'd use everything else though.

I reuse socks, t-shirts, the odd pair of runners has had a second wearing! but really, very little else unfortunately.

I sent my son in to playschool in a grey pair of trousers that had belonged to his sister. The buttons were all heart-shaped though. I did it anyway, but even something that looks like fairly neurtral when it's on your daughter turns out to have pink stitching or pink buttons............

I have re-used more than most though! My son doesn't give a *(&^%$£@

oh yes, pyjamas as well. My son is FOUR and he is not even a tiny bit bothered about wearing girly pjamas.

It's all very well vowing your children will never wear gender coded colours, I felt the same before having children, but it's hard, past the age of about 6 months, to buy cheap clothes that aren't coloured this way. Even things like wellies and coats are mainly pink (perhaps purple), so that even if my two have nice denim skirts, they still look like a pair of pink marshmallows walking down the road...

I am dying (sp?) quite a lot of the dds clothes for ds when he arrives in July - so that I can wash them a few times before he arrives. I dye quite a lot of the dds clothes too, to cover stains, brighten them up or if they are handmedowns in a colour that doesn't suit them.

If you don't want the flower, butterfly on clothes, could you sew a patch (a star?) over them. Maybe you could respray (hammerite) the bike/scooter.

We have managed to find some lovely clothes for the dds at car boot sales (I got some Croc wellies for dd for 50 p!), ebay and charity shops, and, although they have a bit of pink, most of their clothes aren't pink, and they wear quite a lot of boy stuff too.

I agree Emmyzone totally, especially if the todder starts going to groups or preschool noway. There are cheap childrens clothes around all the time, you just have to look around, in charity, sales, discount shops like Poundstretcher, Primark or Supermarket clothes etc. I personally would never dress my little boy in overtly girly clothes in public. It is kind of different for a girl, but i know that Shiloh Pitt dress sense is being questioned a bit as she does dress in boys clothes, then again i used to but i chose to my parents dispared.

With a baby you could get away with it to some extent but when they start to get older and your dd clothes start to get more girly.

Personally i wish that there were many more /uni sexual clothes for boys and girls.....in Europe boys dont all wear macho boyish colours...whats wrong with boys in red corduroys or red coats ? and girls in navy trousers and dark green coats? Much more tasteful than the girlie pink, lilacs, purples and yellows we have in Britain. And baby boys in combat colours with black for a toddler ??? yuk !! I have even seen imitation leather jackets for babies and toddler boys ............please !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mix and match your DD stuff with your baby boys attire....he wont mind and make good use of it ....Yellow and stuff on baby boy is fine...my Ds wore yellow when tiny babe.

I agree maltesers, i was shocked at the amount of shocking pink in shops no variety or imagination by retailers at all. Reds fine on a boy looks nice imo

Re-use everything! If you want to feel really good about it put the equivalent cash in a jam jar (money you would have spent on new 'boys' clothes) and but your DS something fab when he's a bit bigger and minds more about what colour/motifs are on things (probabaly not til he's about 5 or 6). Buy one or two (or ask for as presents) 'boy' outfits for photos/family outings (esp. if grandparents etc are likely to comment!, if it's really on your mind what other people may think. I had DS first and DD second and dyed loads of stuff of his into more neutral colours - Robert Dyas do some cheap dye that is dead easy to use in the washing machine or in a bucket if you haven't got one. Pink stuff is easily covered by a dark blue dye - I'm not fussed by gender stereotyping but I wanted to feel like I had soe new stuff when I didn't/couldn't afford it/couldn't justify it! All my friends have done similar and no-one gives a toss about colours/motifs etc. (Moral of the story - choose laid back friends!!)

I had DS followed by DD....they are 6 and 4 now..DD wore all DS's babygros, quite a few outfits and she still wears his old pyjamas and coats!

If you had a boy first and bought lots of bright green or bright red clothes that would be the easiest way.

A beige coat... brown boots.. that sort of thing can be dressed up with pink or dressed down with ... more brown!

SeasideLil I couldn't agree with you more. Before my DDs were born I swore that I would never dress them in pink. five years and 3 dds later, I haven't, but that is mainly due to the fact that I have to buy overtly "boy's" clothes to do so. The availability of girl's clothes that are not pink or bloody lilac is really annoying. I don't object girl's clothes, but honestly, I took DD2 and 3 to a singing group yesterday and every single girl there was in head to toe pink or lilac. (except mine, natch )

Bedding PJs and vests fine and possibly the wellies too.All the other stuff ok in the house
With the bike, I would strip it down and/or mask the bits you don't want spraying and respray the frame.Will only cost a couple of quid and will make it look fresh and new for him too.take the e have resprayed boys bikes

DS1's fav colour is pink, he is a most "manly" kid, plays rugby, tough as nails but his second favourite pj's (after his spiderman ones) are his pink ones with the butterflies and cupcakes. He has stacks of pink polos etc.

I just bought DS2 a cute pack of sleepsuits from the "girls" section they are green and pink striped and have vines with little flowers on - I thought they were cute as and they pleased me and as DS2 is 4weeks old I am the only person who needs to be pleased.