Enough already with the gender specific pink fairies/blue tractor themed everything!!!! AIBU????

[Ernestina]

OK, I can't take any more. My DS is only five months old and I'm getting bored of the lack of choice of non-blue stuff.

Please can someone recommend shops (real life or online) where your options are not limited to blue or pink (or occasionally yellow).

It's not just clothes - I want to get a nice weaning set - perhaps in red or green for a change from blue blue blue blue blue...

I think it's amazing that almost all children's clothing is deliberately aimed at either boys or girls. It's bonkers - it would make far more sense if most clothes were general and unisex. I do get mad about it, but I think the choice is actually better for boys than for girls. There's more clothing for girls, and that really annoys me, but it is almost all pink or lilac! But I do manage seek out colourful/interesting clothes for DS. I like H&M, Zara, Tesco and very occasionally when feeling flush Pol o Pyret.

Oh and John Lewis good for children's plates and cups etc. Another tip is to look in the picnic/outdoor sections of big department stores for a much more interesting range of plastic plates and cups.

We like H&M and JL, also Frugi. I generally refuse to buy character or slogan t shirts/clothing as it annoys me.

DS has some fab Ecco sandals with crocodiles on - so its not all doom and gloom on the shoe front.

If it was possible to buy plain white long and short sleeve t shirts for small boys anywhere I would def dye my own.

oh i love the slogan clothing
but am sick of blue for boys as that is all my little newborn has been bought (ungrateful aren't i!1)

When did this pink/blue gender segregation/stereotyping all come in, anyway? It's not just colours, it's slogans 'Mummy's little monster' 'Daddy's little princess' etc It makes me SO CROSS
As a child, not that long ago I was dressed mostly in brown (from jumble sales). What has happened to feminism and why are we putting up with this? (Not MNetters, obviously, but someone must be buying it!)

Capitalism gone crazy - why let parents get away with buying one paddling pool when you can convince them your dd needs a pink one and your ds needs a blue one? (Yes, ELC, I'm thinking of you.)

YANBU. I actually like the colour pink, but why would I want to dress my daughter in it head to toe, day in day out? Why can't I get a plain brown or black pair of shoes for her?

I was getting angry about this 22 years ago when I had DD1. Everyone else thought I was odd as she was always in something not pink, and usually trousers.

Now with DD2 I've given up. It just isn't possible to buy non-pink, non girly clothes, unless you can afford designer, so she is pink and frilly like all the other little girls

Her cereal bowls came from asda. One has butterflies and bugs on it and is predominantly red/ orange/ brown/ yellow. The other is a cat's face. Pretty unisex.

She has a selection of sippy cups. One is mauve and yellow; one orange; one yellow; one red.

This is a very funny article about the phenomenon. I read it just before ds was born, and we didn't know the sex. Really summed up the difficulty I was having trying to find neutral but interesting newborn clothes. (and yes, I know it's more for the parent's benefit, the baby doesn't care)

What a fab article. I really do think that clothes for kids up to about age 4/5 should be unisex, because surely what they want and need are hardwearing practical tops and bottoms and dungarees in a whole range of colours. If you want pictures on, you could have dogs, cats, suns, moons, stars, rainbows, trees, butterflies and caterpillars etc. And why not trains and planes and cars and boats for both genders?

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Wow!! So glad it's not just me who's being driven mildly insane. Thanks for all the posts - I'd forgotten H&M do baby clothes. And it hadn't even occurred to me to look in John Lewis...

Hunkermunker - lol at emailing the shops - I might have to do that too!

I'd forgotten about John Lewis. Last year they were great, but I went in recently and girl's stuff was dire. Boys stuff was better.

Fat face sometimes have nice stuff, but I can only afford it in the sale.

Hunker, I have had very heated discussions with the store manager in our local, very large, Next. I too was told "but that's what people want". AAAAAAARGH. I think I'll start writing too.

I emailed M&S last year about the outrageous sexism of their dressing up costumes -girls got to be fairies and beauticians, while boys were doctors and cowboys. They said they would make a 'careful consideration' of the issue. Hmmph.
Although the beautician outfit has disappeared from the website this year, the general theme is still girl=frilly, fluffy, weak, boy=strong and adventurous.
I genuinely can't remember anything like this from my childhood, or am I just strange?

same problem when I was pregnant. Shops all had lots of pink and blue newborn outfits but often only 1 neutral one.

But howabout us, the adults.. I am sick of everything for women now turning pink. Pink handbags, watches, radios and credit cards FFS (yes you oh beloved John Lewis) I am not 2 yrs old I LIKE OTHER COLOURS!

My ds LOVES pink and purple, and is always really disappointed to see the boys clothes and shoes as they're so dull compared to the girls'. I wish I was brave enough to let him get the pink sparkly shoes he always wants! He does have a pink ELC keyboard which Father Xmas brought him, a pink and white spotty bathrobe which he wore in town the day we bought it and several other pink toys like cars and teddy bears. He wanted a pink bed but we persuaded him he might not like it when he's a bit older (he's 4 now) so got him the blue and green one - but I felt very mean as he couldn't understand why!

We've had that too jollydo. 3yo DS really likes pink and has a pink comfort blanket which he's adored from birth. He really wanted some very pink, sequinned and floral trousers in M&S recently - I nearly did it, a big part of me wants him to have the colour he likes and be done with it - but I chickened out because at 3 and going to nursery I thought there would be potential for people making him feel uncomfortable about it. I still can't decide which is the right course of action tbh. I do get him other pink things eg he has a nice plastic picnic plate with a big pink flower on it, but I couldn't quite get my head round the trousers.

Oh gods - Squirmy isn't even born yet and I'm already sick of the stereotyping! Fortunately he's getting piles of hand-me-downs from cousins which aren't too bad (in-laws have similar mindsets), and neighbours have given us piles of girl clothes which again are practical rather than twee. I've been playing with Dylon - Mr NC says we should dye the lot purple and confuse people!

I really hate the slogans on children's clothes, even more than the limited colour range.

Rainbow Babies

Plain bright coloured clothes for kids up to about 10. And not expensive either.