To Want a "Let Boys Be Boys" campaign too?

[Mowgli1970]

I totally agree with MN's campaign but think boys should have someone to back them up too. I'm fed up of slogans on t-shirts alluding to boys' bad behaviour ("Whatever" "I've Got a Bad Attitude") and boys' things generally - I'm a monster, I'm a monkey, I'm a little shit (ok, I made that last one up). My son is sweet, kind, sensitive, intelligent, articulate and generally lovely. Why can't I buy something for him that's a positive message (I can buy any number of "Little Princess" type, fluffy bunny, angel, sweet stuff for dd if I choose)? There's a niche in the market here...

Thanks mummyinthevalley that website is great!

''i dont see why we need a 'let boys be boys' campaign.. boys clothes and toys arent trying to turn them into little minuture prostitutes.

Im sorry, but letting 'boys be boys' is about football, rugby, cars, bikes and bugs..etc.

While i agree that some slogans are inappropriate, i dont think they are half as bad as some poor girl having "juicy" plastered across her arse''.

I absolutely agree, screaminEagle. I am happy my boys like sport, cars etc. Normal behaviour.

There are actually some nice boys' clothes out there at the moment, God knows I have moaned in the past about the lack of decent stuff, and by decent I mean to my taste. I've never seen anything really 'offensive'.

what we need is a let children be innocent children

I hate that i cannot by nice plain stuff for 10 yo DD, without sexy slogans all over, I also hate that now DS has turned 5 we are faced with row upon row of aggresive slogans, skulls, spiderman or football, or ben bloomin 10 - what happened to plain colours and stripes LOL

some of the tee shirts in the links on here are beyond gross

M&S have plenty of perfectly OK boys' clothing, as do H&M and GAP (in the sale of course). Fat Face is OK too, but again only in the sale.

Seriously, there is plenty out there.

I agree with Screaming Eagle.

For boys I see lots of dinosaurs, cars, trucks, diggers, aliens, jungle animals, funny monsters, sports, pirates, etc

I don't really see anything negative about any of those things.

Just to prove Otter right:
4 plain t-shirts for a tenner

Can't get much cheaper than £2.50 a t-shirt and M&S are usually pretty good quality too.

You really don't have to buy expensive clothes on-line. There is lots on the high street that doesn't have slogans or characters on.

OtterInaSkoda is it enough to find perfectly OK clothes for our boys? Wouldn't it be better to find perfectly lovely/great clothes for them like the girls.

Think we have all got used to the general dullness of shopping for boys clothes

I think there are some lovely boys clothes though. Perhaps not as elaborate as for girls, but there are some pretty cool ones all the same. DS has plenty (mainly M&S and H&M).

He's 9 so chooses his own for the most part.

I do think there was a phase a little while ago where everything (other than at GAP) was beige but recently, things have improved.

The only real gripe I have is that shoes in his size tend to come in any colour as long as it's black, unless you buy trainers. He has weird, wide feet though.

Many thanks for the link, Otter

I have seen a shift in recent years. The clothes for boys now are, in general, greatly improved on the sludge colours previously available.

I mean, just look at some of (whispers) Next boys' clothes now. Used to be dire, I would be so exasperated with the selection when buying ten years ago. Now there are lovely checks, pinks, sky blues, plains and stripes...(SANS logo, naturally).

My DS's have rarely worn a slogan t-shirt (only Star Wars AFAI remember) and only wear plain/stripes, oh and football kits.

I think it is easy to avoid although I think it is easy to avoid girl slogans too........however I do agree with both points that there is an underlying dangerous stereotype of girls being passive and princess-y and possibly sexual, while boys should be active, strong and aggressive.

But part of me says, hasn't it always been this way? And we all do things everyday to reinforce this stereotype, and that would be nothing to do with buying rubbish slogan clothing.

Just seen this thread and I agree, has any oneheard back from MN? Ihave just seen this www.next.co.uk/shopping/boys/new-in/2/3 and I am shocked, although it is cartoony the guy has a gun.... Needs to be Let KIDS be KIDS. Whoever said that more important for girls clothing was wrong... sexualisation is def wrong but so is linking boys to violence, think gangs and again this leads so sexualisation of girls- in a roundabout way.....

I agree with OP.

We get many items for DS at Polarn O Pyret, they have a really good-looking, adorably cute range (it is Swedish design), the clothes are high quality, and last long after they have been grown out of. Yes, they are expensive, but they are so well made, you get three times the wear as what you'd get from a supermarket made-in-Cambodia range.

Plus, you don't have to have your child acting as an advertising billboard for Spiderman, Ben Ten, Lazy Town or any other similar artless shite.

Mowgli1970

My son is sweet, kind, sensitive, intelligent, articulate and generally lovely.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but do you think your son is gay?

Oyama, I think you're being deliberately antagonistic(or maybe you're just thick). Since when did being sweet, kind, intelligent, sensitive and articulate make you gay?

Why on earth would Mowgli's son be gay???

@ Oyama

LOL at Oyama. I'm not too PC to get the joke.

My DC is strong, sporty, likes to get around with his shirt off and asks for "mocktails" with dinner. Methinks he might just end up homosexual.

(The above meant as a joke, BTW, for you humourless reactionaries)

Snobear - It wasn't clear whether Oyama's comment was a joke (think it was that it was preceded with a "please don't take this the wrong way").

I'm new here so haven't read enough of other people's posts to get a sense of when they are joking or not. So I, and at least two either people who posted similar sentiments before me, didn't think it came across as a joke.

If it was a joke, I have no problem with it - it's tongue-in-cheek and doesn't cause me any offence at all.

Think you should avoid calling people "humourless reactionaries" though. It's not very nice is it?

Didn't sound like a joke to me either starting "please don't take this the wrong way". Very poor joke, if one at all.

"Maybe you're just thick" is not very nice either, but about average for a humourless reactionary.

If that was a joke I certainly did not find it funny. The again that is to be expected - I am after all a humourless reactionary.

I hate slogans on t-shirts full stop.

Sometimes I like the fact that so much boys' stuff is crappy, it means I have to be more discerning when buying stuff for DS.

Petit Bateau have the nicest things for little boys. You can't beat a breton striped top and little shorts or jeans.

Why do all the 'nice' clothes stop ages 18mths / 24mths - why then do all little boys clothes have to have some horrid statement on them, or some character? I HATE it....