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Old Posted: 08-03-2010 , 09:08 PM #1
Merienne
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Default "Children" rather than "boys" and "girls" (Why buy for both?)

So many ad's say "boy's" this and "girl's" that, just because it has a certain colour. How about just describing things as "children's"? If you want to be specific- describe the colour.

I don't know if this belongs here, or if anyone can be bothered at all with my comments, and I don't want to offend all the generous and friendly people here- this is an amazing community! But...


Not only is it good to encourage children of both genders to find what they like themselves, but it's also a HUGE economical and environmental issue.

If you have a baby girl first and get an expensive pink buggy and pink clothes- what do you do with them if your next child is a baby boy?

What companies want us to do is obviously to buy another set of everything! So the more different the attire is for boys and girls- the more do they get to sell.

If we don't immediately write off the pink buggy as "girl's"- maybe it would actually do fine for a boy too... This means parents can reuse things more for all their children, thereby saving both money and the environment.


It's only a coincidence I'm writing this on International Women's Day, but I'll use it as an excuse. Allowing both boys and girls the same opportunities is also a part of equality. This includes what toys they get to play with.

Again- no offence meant to anyone, I think people here are great, and I'm hoping to both give and take here for a long long time.

Merienne
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Old Posted: 11-03-2010 , 01:48 PM #2
mp1980
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Agree with Merienne in 100%! All the best for all JTowners.
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Old Posted: 11-03-2010 , 02:49 PM #3
paprika
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Hmm, not sure if I'd use a pink buggy for a boy... :D But then again, I wouldn't buy a pink buggy, I prefer neutral colours, or rather orange and dark purple for girls.
As for the forums, it's easier if they are described as boy's or girl's, as if you don't have much time to check the posts you won't be looking into threads that say girl's if you have a boy. You don't want to dress your son into skirts and dresses. On the contrary though, if you have a girl you might be looking at the boys clothes. So just the from a practical point of view, it makes things easier.
This pink & blue thing seems a bit overdone for the last couple of decades, I'd say it's only because people had lots of money and could afford to buy a set of pink things for girls and a set of blue for boys. :) I'd say white and other neutral colours are getting more fashionable now, people prefer to reuse stuff for the second child as well :).

Regards,
p
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Old Posted: 11-03-2010 , 02:52 PM #4
Belarus
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First of all belated Happy Womens day to women everywhere and particularly "Mna na hEireann". I agree totally with Merienne. I am older than most of the jumbletowners (I think anyway) and I have had seven children - all grown up now. My eldest was a girl followed by two boys, a girl, two boys and another girl. (Seems like a litany). Anyway the babygrows, sleepy suits, jumpers, dungarees etc., from my first child went right down the line to the youngest. (Mind you the jumpers etc., seem to have been a better quality and lasted a lot longer through several washes over the years). Likewise the cot, buggy or in those days it was known as a "go car" were used for all of them and both cot and buggy are still here and have been used for grandchildren both boys and girls. The trend nowadays seems to be to buy everything new for the next child which is a total waste of money. These items should be used by all the children in the family as long as they are fairly good and safe to use. Regards to everybody.
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Old Posted: 11-03-2010 , 03:05 PM #5
Chris P
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Default Pink for Boys; Blue for Girls

Extract from Wikipedia's entry for "pink":

"In Western culture, the practice of assigning pink to an individual gender began in the 1920s. From then until the 1940s, pink was considered appropriate for boys because being related to red it was the more masculine and decided color, while blue was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty color, or related to the Virgin Mary. Since the 1940s, the societal norm was inverted; pink became considered appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued into the 21st century."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink
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Old Posted: 11-03-2010 , 03:22 PM #6
Merienne
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Default Describe the colour in the title!

Paprika- I see your point about the skirts and dresses. But this only applies to a small part of the of the ad's I'm thinking of.
Most of them could just describe the colour in the ad-title. "Pink", "Beige", "Flowerpattern" "Blue and khaki" instead of "boys" or "girls".
And it doesn't just apply to clothes, it goes for toys too.
I think that we are keeping up trends without thinking about it. And I do think someone is more likely to consider a "blue trike" for their daughter, than if it says "boy's trike".

I hope you are right about the blue-pink trend subsiding, it's very uniform and expensive in the long run.

But first and foremost: people here on Jumbletown deserve a lot of praise for generously giving away their no longer needed things!

Daz38- Great that you were able to reuse to much!

Chris P-I know! This is a great example of how sooo many of the things we think of as masculine/feminine have completely changed during the course of time. And will keep changing...
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Old Posted: 11-03-2010 , 09:41 PM #7
TickTock
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Default "Children" rather than "boys" and "girls" (Why buy for both?)

Ah! I remember the term, 'go-car'!

Do I take it that the people who don't think we should differentiate between the pink/blue question would actually purposely go out and buy pink clothes for their boys? I'm sure I'd be struck down by lightning!!!! haha (sorry, I don't do the lol thing, makes me think of lolling about....or lollipops!!)

I didn't have too much problem making this decision as my first baby was a boy and he handed his clothes down to his baby sister, at such a young age neither knew the difference between the colours anyway, so what the heck! It is easier for girls to wear blue tops and trousers but I wouldn't have ever bought anything pink for my son nor would I have dressed him in dresses, not even if the dresses were blue!!!!!

Buggies, prams or cots were not genderised in those days - I'd have considered that rather silly.

One day (almost 30 years ago) my mother-in-law said she'd knitted a jumper for my baby boy, thanking her profusely I opened the bag and found a pink jumper! Seeing the perplexed look on my face she just said, quite seriously, 'the only wool I had was pink'! She was a farmer's wife, and knew how to be frugal and use whatever she had. I did put it on my boy, but just once to keep granny happy. Then I put it away and hoped the next one would be a girl......and she was!! Everything eventually went to charity shops.

I is what I is! No apologies I'm afraid!
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Old Posted: 15-03-2010 , 09:56 AM #8
Stuarty
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I have always been a fan of reusing, but I got a bit of a surprise yesterday. My husband took the children swimming (my mothers day treat) and when he came back he wanted to know why my son was wearing a girls vest...its a plain white vest without sleeves but not the strappy type. It used to be my daughters and my son was absolutely unaware of any difference. Hubby felt very strongly about this and all the reused vests were recycled last night, (hoping he doesnt check the socks anytime soon).

I just dont understand...
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Old Posted: 15-03-2010 , 04:35 PM #9
damsel83
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its natural to have boys and girls diff colors, pink is too colorful to go for a boy but i think purple and lilac are colorful as well and can go for both boys and girls
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