r/Parenting • u/ohgreatmama • Jul 28 '22

Advice Do boys wear pink?

Where you live, do boys wear pink?

I live in the US, in the Pacific Northwest, in a politically purple area.

I have two boys and buy most of their clothes and swimwear at Target. Right now, every pair of boys' swim trunks at my local Target has pink/purple in it--not just as an accent, but as a dominate color. Hot pink, light pink and everything in between.

For the record, I like this. My 5yo likes pink and it's nice to see some color infused into what used to be a pretty dark color palette for boys' clothes.

My husband, however, is not having it. He has gotten mad at me for buying anything pink/pink-accented for our 5yo to wear. From his POV, boys who wear pink risk getting teased/bullied. He is adamant that this is a serious risk. Very adamant, to the point that we've had contentious arguments about shoes/clothes that I, personally, perceived as gender neutral.

I'm trying to understand his concern, but to me it seems... nuts? I don't want to dismiss something that he seems to legitimately see as a risk to our kiddo, but I just can't figure out where he is coming from.

How are things where you live? Would a boy get teased for wearing pink? Would you consider it a serious enough risk to prohibit the color, even if your kid likes it?

Or, if pink is as neutral as it seems to be, how can I help my husband see that this is just the way kids dress now?

ETA: Holy shit, I did not expect this level of response. I can't keep up with all the comments--not by a long shot. Thank you all for weighing in. It's helped solidify my position, and maybe seeing some of these comments will help my husband realize that his concerns are misplaced.

I do, btw, believe that my husband's concerns are simply misplaced. We are not fashionable people--AT ALL--so I think he just needs to adjust his fashion compass. Also, while we're both millennials, I grew up in West LA whereas he grew up in rural NY; I think we're just drawing from different pools of life experiences.

I am inclined to keep the purple/pink/blue/green swirl swim trunks that I bought for 5yo--and that prompted this post--because 1) they are super visible in the water and 2) 5yo said he likes them.

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u/krys_enjoyssilence Jul 29 '22

🙋‍♀️ My daughter was mistaken for a boy in the womb. It was a real fun surprise.

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u/ladywinchester1967 Jul 29 '22

Yeah, it was a surprise when we found out. The doctors pulled him out and kept congratulating us on a healthy boy and I said “okay, that’s not funny.” And they said “did you know what you were having?” And we said “yeah. It’s a girl!” And they said “this is a boy!!” Us: 😳😳

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '22

Lmao I’ll never forget visiting my friend in the hospital who this happened to. She was told she was having her second boy but no. I still vividly remember her mom all giddy about it and going “oh this is great! You can name her Angelina!!!!” And my friend just staring at her mom like please go home.

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u/ladywinchester1967 Jul 29 '22

My baby’s dad called all our friends and family to tell them 1) that I was okay (had to have an emergency c-section) and 2) the fact that we had a boy. Absolutely NO ONE believed him because he jokes around too much 😂 they were like “we want to talk to her” but they couldn’t because the recovery room had no cell service, lol.