Pink is Just a Color and
so is Blue……
When my younger was 3,
he loved the color pink. I bought him a Dora doll, a stroller and a couple
of other dolls he asked for. While in preschool, he wanted My
Little Pony, Littlest Petshop and Zoobles, which apparently were marketed
mostly to girls. Then one day, I heard
my older son telling my younger one that he was “like a girl” because he liked
the color pink and enjoyed playing with the kitchen toys . After hearing him
taunt his brother, I had to have a serious talk with him. In my mind, teasing like this is what leads to
bullying later.
I tried to explain to my
older son that they are just toys and pink was just a color like red or blue. I
told him how he also liked the color pink when he was little. I needed him to
understand that toys and colors did not define who children are. Colors were just colors, and toys were just a
way for young children to learn about the bigger world around them. We even talked about how their father loved
to cook, so what was the big deal about a little boy playing with the kitchen
set.
My two boys became the
inspiration for my book, Pink is Just a Color and so is Blue which
is available exclusively on Amazon.com.
Anti-bullying and
anti-teasing education often starts in middle school. Unfortunately, by this age, many kids already
have an engrained set of beliefs and ideals. Research shows that children’s
personalities are set by the time they are 5.
They have already built a sense of what is right and wrong by the time
they are about 10. Teaching kids to be
accepting, open minded and tolerant should begin when they are 3, 4 and 5 not
10, 11, 12. If they learn young that we don’t all have to fit into a mold, they
will become better “tweenagers” and teenagers.
Pink is Just a Color and so is Blue hopes to break some of the old gender stereotypes about
children’s toys and gender specific colors. Why should the play kitchen be considered a
“girly” toy. Aren’t most chef men? Don’t we want our boys to be nurturing dads
and husbands? So what is the big deal with little boys wanting dolls and
stroller? Why are all toys for little
girls aimed at making them domestic divas or princesses in the land of all
things pretty and pink? Don’t we expect
that our little girls should grow to be confident, independent and strong women
one day? So why limit them in play with
fashion, easy bake ovens and everything from the land of enchantment?
I don’t have girls but
growing up I mowed the lawn, helped my father paint and put in pre-glued tiles.
I was athletic and loved sports of all kinds. Most of my best friends in
college were men. Today, I love to cook and take care of my boys. But I can
also figure out how to fix the chain link in a toilet tank! And I still love to paint!
When my older son was
little, I bought a kitchen set for him to play with. If the look on my
husband’s face could kill!!! He couldn’t understand why I would buy such a toy
for our son. I had to remind him that he was a great cook himself! When
our boys were little, he helped to change diapers, bathe them and feed them. To
me, that made him a greater man!
I did a little research
online to find out more about where the whole notion of pink and blue came from.
In the early 1900’s, all the big fashion
magazines promoted the color pink as a great color for men. Being a shade of
red, it was considered strong and masculine. Blue on the other hand, was thought
to be cool and dainty, and as such, a great color for women!
A little know but very
interesting fact about the color pink dates back to the Nazis. Yes THE Nazis. During
WWII, the Nazis captured millions of prisoners. In order to keep track of them
all, they established a color coding system. We all know that the Jews were
forced to wear a yellow Star of David on them at all times. It was sewn onto
their prison uniforms in the camps.
A whole series of color coded inverted triangles, pointing downward, allowed
camp officials to identify the “crimes” for which the prisoners were
incarcerated. For instance, political prisoners wore red triangles, emigrants
wore blue triangles, real criminals wore green triangles, Jehovah’s wore purple
triangles, and “asocial women (lesbian) wore black triangles. And finally, the
pink inverted triangles identified those the Nazis thought to be gay!!
It wasn’t until as late
as the 1980’s that pink for girls and blue for boys became a widely accepted
norm in our society. Except for the Nazi
reference, many interesting facts are
included at the end of Pink is Just a Color and so is Blue on a special “Did You Know? Page. There is
also a page full of discussion questions and activities for parents and
teachers.
Pink is Just a Color and so is Blue is
not a book I want parents and kids to read and then forget about. One of the main lessons I want readers to
come away with is that so many of our societal norms and ideals change over
time. There was a time when the woman’s
place was in the kitchen. But that’s not
the case anymore. There was a time when
only men wore pants or only women took care of the kids. There was also a time when wristwatches were
considered too feminine and real men carried pocket watches. Today, men sport
wrist watches not only as a fashion statement but also as a status symbol. Gender roles are changing and so should our
attitudes about what it means to be a man or a woman.
Pink is indeed a
beautiful color… and so is blue. But what is it about our society, that we have
this need to put everything in nice little boxes? Why do we have a need to label and categories
everything! Why can’t we just let our kids be kids? Let them play explore and
learn more about themselves and their world.
Isn’t our ultimate goal as parents to assure that our children grow up to
be self confident, happy, secure and productive men and women?
If we as adults become
more open-minded, then a positive, unbiased attitude will automatically permeate
into our kids. Maybe our children will be more tolerant and accepting of each
other and see individual differences as something to celebrate… rather than
ridicule. When kids are accepting, they are less likely to tease or bully. So
let’s spread the message that toys are just toys… and Pink is Just a Color and so is Blue!!!!
Pink is Just a Color and so is Blue
is available exclusively on Amazon.com
