3 yearold loves pink and girls characters, anyone?

[Leonor888]

Hello! my 3 year old son recently started loving pink and pretend play and he has mostly chosen female characters. have your boys gone through this phase? there's a lot of shame in talking about it but I think it's normal. He loves dinos and fights! Thank you

@MrsTerryPratchett is correct!

At 3 (so long as your parents/siblings don't interfer) you get to play with pink or blue choices without worrying about your sex. You can be a princess or a frog - just as you wish. Wonderful!

When you get to primary school or mix with older siblings/cousins/friends, you get directed into boys or girls stuff and make choices in order to fit in. This is the beginning of a social life and you do get to be part of a group ; there has to be a downside.

DS2 is 4 and loves pink. He has a pink lunchbox and flask for pre-school. He also loves anything with rainbows on it.

He wanted pink trainers but tbh I steered him towards the luminous orange ones. I just didn’t want to have to ditch a new pair of trainers if one of his friends made a comment. We’ve never told him that pink is for girls- and I don’t think he’d really accept that sentiment- but I didn’t want the hassle and expense of having to replace new trainers. Still feel a bit mean about it though.

You sound quite hung up on him liking pink, "kitchen toys" and "Disney girls" things as though these are feminine to you.

May I ask if you are from the UK or another part of the world? I only ask as the language used in your posts seems slightly unusual (e.g. people describing their 3yo as masculine) so I wonder if you're in or associate within a culture where all of this might be perceived as unusual?

Here atleast (Scotland) most young boys I know tend to do all of these things and very few people bat an eyelid. My son is 14 now and he still loves pink.

There's a few things online with dads dressing up as princesses (again, pretty much always Elsa) to support their little boys and their love of Disney (always Frozen!).

I don't know what it is about a grown man being a good dad who is secure in their masculinity, but who knew men in Frozen costumes are fairly hot?

“Boy toys”.....didn’t realise that you got toys that require the user to have a penis.
Get an actual grip OP!

You need better friends!

My DS2 loved pink. He chose new fleece slipper socks one year and picked the pink ones with rabbits on. He cried when he outgrew them. When he needed a new mattress for his bed he insisted on the pink one even though you can't see it. His favourite dressing up outfit was a pretty top of mine which he wore as a dress. He loved having his nails painted.

Hes 14 now. He started telling people his favourite colour was red when he was about 9 as he was getting picked on for saying pink. He remembers his pink socks fondly. I think they are still in his drawer as he just wouldn't part with them .

I have a boy and a girl and when they were little people were so keen to say ‘oh boys and girls are so different aren’t they’ and I’d be kind of . They both enjoyed football and mud and glitter.

And now that my son is at secondary school and experiencing some mild bullying from other boys (not actually about gender conformity because he’s quite happy with the football side of life) people express surprise and say ‘oh it’s usually girls who are bitchy’.

People love stereotypes and claim it’s all inborn. Ignore.

At 3 my DS loved Angelina Ballerina and having his toe nails painted. Currently he is into Fortnite and rugby along with lots of his pre-teen friends. For all I know he could be an Emo in a couple of years time. They go through phases as they grow up and explore themselves 🤷‍♀️

@FelicityPike

“Boy toys”.....didn’t realise that you got toys that require the user to have a penis. Get an actual grip OP!

I brought some cars for my toddler daughter advertised as "For boys" . I did ask if girls could play with them as well so they changed the advert.

I noticed lots of retailers are now doing toy household items e.g. ironing boards, mops in pink and blue. I guess little boys will melt if they use a pink toy mop bucket and it's beyond toymakers to use red, green etc.

My son is 3, he recently started telling us that his favourite colours are purple and pink. (Cue me trying to find clothes for him in those colours, really difficult if you're trying to avoid very "girly" things with frills, hearts and flowers.) He also loves Frozen and Elsa, and looking after the doll we gave him when his baby sister was born.

Totally normal. If you're interested look up the campaign "Let toys be toys" (there's also "Let clothes be clothes").

@Leonor888

It’s just so sad Our that our society still has so many prejudices... i just hate it

Only in your head.

My now six year old was like this at the age of 3- everything had to be pink and he chose things that were 'girly' a lot. I just let him.

He still does really like pink and purple and loves things like unicorns and watching Frozen but also likes lots of other traditionally 'boy' things. I would never dream of labelling any toys or colours as 'for boy' or 'for girls' with him although I'm sure kids at school do.

Best just to relax and let him be himself.

Only in your head.

That's not fair. When DD was tiny, she was playing with cars on the floor of a supermarket. A little boy, not much older, came over and said, "cars are for boys". I didn't actually jangle my keys in his face but close.

Thing is, when we bought our car, some of the showroom workers acted very like that little boy, talking to DH, even though he would say, "talk to her mate, I don't know anything and won't be making the decision". One of the reasons we got the car we did is that the salesman remembered me, spoke to me about suspension while talking to DH about paint colours, and let DD play in the sports cars while we talked. Clever man.

It's everywhere.

My son is going through something similar, can I ask if he is still like this? Did you continue to go with free expression or neither encourage /discourage ?