This is a photo of Miss L at 6 months and you’ll notice something….there is not one pink thing in sight. I’d banned it from the moment I discovered I was having a girl. Friends and family could buy clothes and toys in white, at a push lilac or yellow BUT NO PINK was to ever enter my house.
Of course everyone thought she was a boy and in the end I’d just tell well meaning old ladies that her name was Harry just to avoid the question of why she was in jeans and a t-shirt.
Let me explain my aversion, I was a 1970′s tomboy as a child and I loved climbing trees, riding bikes and playing in mud. Pink was not a colour that was terribly practical for any of those activities. My mother is a wonderfully trailblazing feminist (even though she’d deny it!) who taught me all the good things about being a woman and looking after yourself and being independent in all senses. I equated pink with princesses and being rescued – not for me!
However one day, when she was about two my little girl gained her own voice. Despite my giving her a feminist upbringing with stories about princesses rescuing themselves, gender neutral toys, clothing and colours, and telling her how she can be anything at all when she grows up.
You know what she wanted….
Pink
Dresses
Dolls
Teddies
Cath Kidston Florals
Play cleaning especially ironing (?!?)
To be a Mummy
So I have learnt to let go and to stop being so rigid in my tomboyish outlook – I think it was the Cath Kidston that won me over in the end though!. I have now embraced pink and discovered that my daughter has the most wonderful personal style. In turn she tries to understand why I need a comfortable pair of jeans and a new pair of black Converse
‘But, Mummy you do know you can get those in pink, don’t you?’
{ 10 comments }
My mom treated my brother and I the same way! She kept all guns and typical “boy” things from my brother just for him to turn a stick into a gun without ever seeing anyone do that or any previous knowledge of guns. I did what your daughter did. I went for pink and purple. But I was a tomboy too. I loved my dolls, Barbies, playing house and everything “girly” but loved to play in the mud, our old barn, the creek and the boys. And I love your daughter’s name – it’s what I’m naming my daughter!
Congratulations on your Lily!! All the Lilys I know are sassy, clever, stylish girls and I’m sure yours will be the same.
I look forward to seeing photos with lots of pink in them
Kids are such contrary Mary’s! My mom let us wear what we liked, with a small share of my outfits being pink, but a lot of other bright colours. There came a point, probably around the age of 7, where I decided I would NOT wear pink ever again. Why? I don’t know, an urge to go against the grain and be a tomboy maybe?
It all rebalanced around the age of 16-17 where I realised that it was just silly to ban a colour for no reason, and now I have a few pink tops, skirts, but again, not a significant share…
Mmmm this is giving me the urge to go shopping!
Oh, so funny. My middle daughter was a huge pink & princess fan, so I can totally relate!
What a sweetie!
xo
Melissa
I have a mother daughter relationship similar to yours in the style department. When my daughter was your daughter’s age I let her choose her own room color. I was crossing my fingers and biting my tongue hoping she would go with something subdued and feminine. Instead she went for the dark purple techno/disco look. If you can imagine that. Oh well… I’m just waiting for the day she gets married. We will probably have disagree on the wedding dress =)
Too funny! My mother was forever trying to dress me in pink as a child and I did not embrace it! I loved green, still do and fondly remember a pair of 70′s hip huger bell bottomed jeans the color of green beans with silver studs down the outside seams! She was horrified, I was happy! To each his own, viva la difference!
I feel your pain, I wear a skirt once a year for a church parade with Guides and only own one pink item on clothing, however, my daughter whom I used to dress in funky dungarees and as little pink as possible, loves pink. Anything pink, fluffy and girly is immediately attractive for her, as she has got older it has got worse, she is a real girly girl. *sigh*
I underwent a similar journey. As a child, I had a pink-obsessed older sister, so hated pink myself. I can still picture a pair of pink hand-me-down trousers that I loathed. After having 2 boys, we had a girl, and someone made the comment in their baby card “brace yourself for pink”. I hated it. Dressed her in white, cream, blue….
But she loved it as soon as she was old enough to have an opinion, and I decided I had to go with it. We had pink clothes and nothing else for about 3 years. She is nearly 5 now, and – hurrah – seems to be growing out of it.
Lily is so sweet…. =)
Sometime, I’m amazed by how fast the children of this generation grow up. They get so sassy….and cute while being that….ha…ha..ha….
When I was little, my mother gave up on trying to make me wear skirts. I just can’t stand the frills, the ribbons…..and other cute decorations. So, my childhood pictures are filled with me wearing t-shirt and short pants.
Somehow after I graduate from univ, I started wearing skirts again…and once I heard my mother said to her friend that she’s glad that I was finally realize my own gender….ha…ha..ha….
Well….it’s the spice of life & parenthood….
Hysterical! And…if I were you I’d be counting the days ’til you can upgrade her to a real iron. That, my friend, could be very useful.
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