Open Up To The Possibilities Of Colour

Shhh, come a little closer and we’ll share a secret with you.

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Here it is, are you ready?  Make sure you’re seated because we wouldn’t want to startle you too much.  It seems to be a little known fact that indeed boys can have pink things and girls can have blue and they will survive.  Yes it’s true, I’ve been a terrible mother and allowed my son to choose his own favourite colour and for the time being he’s opted for...... pink!!  But here’s the thing he’s still healthy, happy and playing with cars as much as he ever was.  He bashes things, fights with his siblings and rolls around in mud given the chance.  Must be later life that the damage will appear perhaps?  Or so I’m let to believe by the woman who scolded my colleague for daring to suggest that a colour is just a colour.

I have to ask - what is this new obsessive preoccupation with gender stereotyping through colour?

We try hard to help customers understand the potential of their own children but that’s hard to do when options and possibilities are eliminated from birth.  Of course this goes way beyond the issue of colour selection which is perhaps not the most important aspect merely the daftest and includes the type of toys girls or boys are “allowed” let alone encouraged to play with.  Why are we as a nation telling children they shouldn’t play with ANY toy be it because they’re a boy or girl, or because they’re “too old”, which is ironic considering how many adults I’ve seen playing with toys given the opportunity.

To see children as young as four being told they are too old now for puzzles, fancy dress and dolls shows how out of touch the UK parenting community is with the genuine needs of a child’s development.

Not only should we encourage children to love all colours and see all toys as potential fun but we should explore all kinds of role play and creative thinking within them.  Our wonderful kids are capable of learning incredible things and while they are young, interested and responsive it’s the time to be filling them with the opportunities the world holds not limiting them by narrowing their view.

No go forth and find something really different to enjoy together.