Gender Stereotypes

September 25, 2018 /

 

So my three are all less than two years old – why are we having this conversation?

Because it’s happening already.

It’s crazy! My son is often super proud of his cool shirts or wants to show people his favorite things so he’ll tell me or Grandma (or everyone he sees that day) “I have a fire truck on my shirt” or dinosaur or lion etc. and we’ll talk about what sounds they make. At which point my one year old daughter inevitably looks at her shirt excited to see what she’s got, sometimes it’s a ruffle, sometimes flower patterns, often just nothing because it’s really hard to find girls shirts that don’t have silly sayings or mermaids on them right now. And then she just looks so sad.

So this morning when her brother was walking around the breakfast table telling us about his police car, I saw this instant disappointment in her face – like she didn’t even have to look, and it was one of the most heartbreaking looks I’ve ever seen on her.  Luckily thanks to hubby’s good choice when she looked down and picked up her bib to check it out there was a sheep! Phew! Animals are one of her favorite things right now so this was pretty cool. But I feel like she’s already been ingrained with this sense of less excitement and adventure than her brother through her baby clothes!

I’ve started trying really hard to find shirts with animals or foods or other favorites on them but it’s a lot harder than you’d think! My aunt got her a pair of lemon pants a little while ago and she was so so proud to point at them and say lemon over and over.

I know I could just put her in her brothers fire truck shirt (and sometimes I do) but she’s already got very light short hair and looks JUST like her Dad – I feel like I need something, ya know?

I was all ready to work my magic with toys to keep them neutral, my son (and his dad) will dress up in their Minnie Mouse ears and my daughters read their digger book. Everybody explores (and enjoys) art and STEM – we’ve pretty much covered it all, but didn’t see it coming from the baby clothes. I do try to buy a lot of stuff gender neutral anyways because let’s face it hand me downs are the gift that keeps on giving! Of course they save money which is a big win when you have one income and three kids under two, but also have so many other perks. I have clothes in the next size when my kids grow out of all their stuff without warning! Meaning I don’t have to go shopping until I’m ready. It also cuts down on laundry during those in between times because I refuse to buy them clothes in a size/season that’s about to end!  But aside from being harder and harder to find gender neutral stuff in stores I also want my kids to have fun and have something original, enjoy wearing a cute dress, or just be adorable in their own right sometimes!

I really love dressing all my babies up in adorable outfits –  the boys and girls included. I just can’t believe it’s started influencing them this early!

 

 

 

 

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