I understand, but do not agree with, the PINK everything for girls BUT....

[CrapolaDeVille]

Why does a nurse's outfit need to be pink? It's bad enough that firefighters/police etc are in the boys section.....but why does a girl need a pink nurse's outfit?

[Hufflepuzzpig]

Thanks for the ideas :) accessories rather than specific outfits sounds great - and cheaper!

I have to admit I shop in ELC quite a bit, though normally I head for the games/outdoorsy stuff. I do frequently grumble about the blue/pink abundance, but I just don't buy into it. Still annoys me that it's there though!

I do see the point that it's not good to shower girls in houseworky/doll toys and nowt else - but I also like it when boys play with that sort of thing (ie I think they should be aimed equally at both genders). After all there are so many threads (and complaints from RL friends) about men not contributing to housework/childcare, so maybe letting boys play with those toys would start to normalise it in some way. DS sees DH being a nurturing father, and doing his fair share of chores, and he loves copying him. In fact I recently picked up a toy iron and dustpan/brush for him in my charity shop :)

[CrapolaDeVille]

Yes I did!!! ing

[suzikettles]

Didn't you see the thread on here where the doctor was told she should wear a smart suit, jewelry and high heels so that people wouldn't mistake her for a nurse? . Obviously a taking a leaf out of Dr Barbie's book.

[CrapolaDeVille]

Porn star Dr Barbie is

[CrapolaDeVille]

I would love a little pair of cuban heels for my youngest boy.....ceratinly beats the vile Christmas gift one of the dd's had of Disney heels. TBH character driven stuff makes me boak, but if it didn't girl stuff is pretty and boys is action. Why can't we have decent female heroes in films for children?

So a business that makes decent dressing up stuff is in order.

My youngest dd wants to be an astronaut.

[suzikettles]

Ah, see I would disagree about camoflage - would anyone laugh at a little girl wearing camoflage combat trousers?

Do girls in the Cadets need different coloured gear?

[GooseyLoosey]

More terrifying to me, was the Barbie take on doctors (here). I don't exactly think that it emphasises professionalism and dedication!

[Lancelottie]

And wands, and swords, and hammers, and stethoscopes.
Wigs would be good too.

[Lancelottie]

Huffle (going back up the thread a bit!), don't think 'outfit', think flexible! Our much-used dressing box has lots of hats (many from charity shops), jazzy waistcoats, some plain aprony/tabard things, shiny trousers and tatty trousers, scarves, furry tails, cloaks, headbands with ears, necklaces and a horrible old dress or two of mine. That seems to cover most needs (though little boys, IME, do love a good pair of clacky heels too).

[Insomnia11]

My daughter's nurse outfit has blue stripes, a hat with a red cross on, a white apron and a dark blue cape. Like something out of "Doctor in Charge" in the 60s. Sometimes she is a doctor in it though.

[SybilBeddows]

last time I went in there the dressing up clothes were arranged on two separate rails, a girls' one and a boys' one. They can't physically make them 'boys only' but they do their best to signal who they are for.

[Bramshott]

And to Mo-Chan - the problem is I think when something comes in a normal, real-world colour (eg. blue globe, white nurses outfit) and then is repackaged in a pink version you would never see in real life.

[Bramshott]

Suzi - camoflage has a similar gender-specific reference for boys.

[yeknelle]

Green scrubs sounds fun! What about clothes that reflect other areas of work? Or is that the problem---not all areas of work have "special clothes" even if the work might be inspiring?

[CrapolaDeVille]

I would like to see green scrubs!!

[Columbia999]

Good grief, ELC has certainly changed since I used to buy toys for my son there.

[suzikettles]

Pink vet's outfit

Blue vet's outfit

[suzikettles]

Doctor's outfit - with picture of girl and boy wearing it.

Pink nurse's outfit

White nurse's outfit

But yes, it's a 1950s style outfit so only for girls. How stupid.

[yeknelle]

Absolutely no reason for pink to be only for girls. Consumers have to be a bit more demanding however and this has to start with mums asking manufacturers of clothing and other products to adjust their offers too. My son's favorite outfit was a shocking pink, heavy cotton jumpsuit with a bright multi-coloured parachute on the back. He wore it zealously for 3-4 months--up to and including his first day of kindergarten at age 5. After that he never wore it again. It was not even particularly "feminine", but obviously the colour sparked comments. Sad isn't it?

[suzikettles]

Well, to be fair to ELC all the "homemaking" toys are also available in blue (they used to only come in one colour which was blue or green or red iirc). Blue used to be quite a common colour for teasets etc, back when these sort of things really were considered girls-only.

And none of the dressing up clothes are "boys only". I'm not sure how they could make them boys only actually now that there are no limits on the colours that girls can wear - there are no colours that are gendered in the same way that pink is.

[MoChan]

The intrinsic problem is that all their clothes are colour coded pink. And then the toys are colour coded pink. The cooking, washing, ironing, child care toys are pink, and are therefore for girls.

I agree that there's nothing wrong with pink, and that it would be nice if we encouraged boys to wear it. But in the grand scheme of things, girls are growing up to think that they are pink, and that the pink toys are for them. And the pink toys are the 'home-making' toys, a lot of the time. I don't think it sends a good message.

Also, I don't really like brain-washing of any kind, and I think girls AND boys are being brainwashed into unnecessary gender role stereotypes, and colour (ie, pink vs blue/black/grey,etc) is one of the major tools that is bringing it about. IMO.

Are ELC still making the stuck-in-the-fifties old fashioned type nurse outfit they used to do? All nurses, male or female, wear the same sort of thing these days, don't they?

[LilBB]

ELC seem to do every toy with a pink alternative!! Dressing up costumes annoy me that they are so gender specific. Boys are builders, police officers and firemen and girls are nurses and princesses. I think in a dressing up box the best things would be old hats and fancy clothes (try charity shop) as well as costume jewelry, bags and lengths of material. My sister and I used to dress up in sheets as children. You don't need a tabard with a red cross for a child to pretend to be a nurse.

[CrapolaDeVille]

Pink does stamp 'girl's toy' though doesn't it? (in most households)

[suzikettles]

Exactly!

But it's crazy, no? As crazy as saying a girl couldn't grow up to drive a train, although given the world being what it is, obviously not as limiting - men don't suffer economically because they can't wear pink.

I just sometimes when I see "Pink Stinks" think, really? No, pink is fine, it's our attitudes that stink and girls wearing less pink won't fix that, but boys wearing more might help.

[CrapolaDeVille]

I have no issue with pink, all my children wear it and like it. BUT you have to be pretty robust in some circles for boys to be able to choose that colour. To deny that for many boys it isn't a colour they can choose is wrong.