New thread about sterotypical clothes for boys ...

[nappyaddict]

Which of these do you think are stereotypical or not stereotypical for a boy? If you could just type S or NS in bold next to each word please that would be fab.

Zebras
Pandas
Whales
Ice creams
Hippos
Bumblebees
Caterpillars
Goats
Cows
Ladybirds
Chickens
Geese
Horses
Donkeys
Sheep
Camels
Goats
Balloons
Kites
Bicycles
Moose
Squirrels
Hedgehogs
Starfish
Sea horses
Crabs
Penguins
Sandcastles
Astronauts
Parrots
Peacocks
Owls
Toucans
Ducks
Swans
Ca ts
Deer
Rockets
Spaceships
Submarines
Rainbows
Trees
Clouds
Sunshine
Lightening flash

Bongos
Paint/paintbrushes

Why?

That's a very long list. Apart from the vehicles, astronaut and lightning flash none of them strike me as being particularly stereotypical.

SD - I am hoping to start a small children's clothes online shop. My aim is to use designs with are unusal, different and unisex.

Which do you mean by vehicles Tatty?

All the vehicles, none of the rest.

Sorry am i being really thick I didn't think I'd put any vehicles on the list?

Spadeships and submarines are vehicles. I agree that these, rocket, astronaut and lightening flash are quite typical boy decorations but it might be a good idea to include some of them. They are IMO at the more classy end of the streotypical boys stuff, eg I would buy my boys a submarine top but wouldn't buy them one with a digger on, not exactly sure why that is though!

mloo and tatty which vehicles were you referring to please?

Message withdrawn

I meant bicycles, rockets, spaceships and submarines

I'd love to be able to buy my ds clothes with toucans and cameles on

camels that is of course

I should add though, that my DS (aged 2) only wants to wear t shirts with diggers on at the moment, he has no taste dammit So I think Birdy is right, you need some boy-ish stuff, I probably could fob him off with a submarine.

Pruners

Is it all words you dislike or just the slogans like here comes trouble etc?

What would you think about something like

"Lazing around" with a sleeping cat underneath
"Genius beyond my years"
"Monkeying around" with a picture of a gorilla/ape
"Cool dude" with a boy in sunglasses
"Born to be wild" with a zebra
"Come on mum, make it snappy" with an alligator
"Don't bug me" with a ladybird or caterpillar

"If found please return to the jungle" with a hippo
"Chill out" with a fireman and hose

primark do these sort of slogany tshirts.

Message withdrawn

sorry, I loathe all slogans ...

i hate slogans too! my DS isn't a devil in training, nor is he "trouble"

having a dd, I would put her in any of those (esp the penguin)

but agree vehicles, astronauts and lightening would strike me (hahaha) as more stereotypically boyish

no slogans for me either - 'Come on mum, make it snappy' is just as bad as 'Here comes trouble' IMO

at least they're grammatically correct (unlike Tesco, grr)

No to slogans from me too.

Me neither. They are hideous.

I hate most slogans on baby and toddler clothing, regardless of sex. Not keen on random numbers, map references or compass points on boys' clothing either, although we do have some like that. And I recently bought some M&S dungees that are khaki (DS looks very nice in dark khaki) and have an applique giraffe and 'My Giraffe is Very Tall' which I thought was cute and definitely preferable to something asserting that my DS was one notch away from aquiring an ASBO, complete with Cheeky Monkey imagery.

I do think you (OP) have a point - that a lot of those animals do seem to be 'assigned' to one sex or the other, often very randomly. Who decided, for example, that cats were for girls and dogs for boys? Or that rabbits were girly and monkeys masculine? Or that spiders and beetles are boyish but butterflies, dragonflies and ladybirds are for girls? Or that girls never EVER are to be associated with wheeled vehicles (princess carriages excepted) yet boys are doomed to sport helicopters, tractors, biplanes and buses across their fronts? Drives me spare, I know I'm not the only one. When was the last time you went into a children's clothing shop or department (for toddlers and babies, anyway) and didn't see segregated sections? If the OP is trying to market clothing that doesn't submit to these hoary old sterotypes, then good luck to her!
(um. rant over.)

I'm not a fan of any slogans either, or really a fan of motifs/pictures for that matter (although some are ok, but not my preference).

I prefer patterns - eg stripes, spots etc, or pictures that are part of the fabric rather than printed on iyswim. So eg, my DS has a fab top which is made of bright orange fabric with swans all over it - but thats the pattern of the fabric. (from Polarn o pyret - they do lots of very cool patterns, very non-typical for boys).

I also think its hard to get non typical colours for boys - I love putting DS in orange, bright purle, bright gree, red etc, rather than navy blue/grey/khaki etc all the time.

Acquiring. I can't spell it, can I?

I agree with Astrophe and MamaHobgoblin.

But I have to admit all my boys have loads of blue/grey/sludge coloured clothes with various random numbers, awful slogans or stereotypical pictures on them. My mum and dp's family buy them (typically from Tescos or other similar stores) and I haven't yet told them what bothers me about the clothes or the shops themselves.

When I have time, I hunt in secondhand shops, or online, for brightly coloured, more individual clothes. Ds1 loves orange; ds2 loves green and ds3 is too young to express an opinion. The favourite items get worn as much as possible. The rest of the time they just wear whatever is around, whether it says "ASBO waiting to happen" or not.