We walked into a Children's Place in the mall and my husband's eyes just about bugged out of his head. He kept whispering to me "this is TERRIBLE" and he was right. Everything is pink, glitter, leopard print, cutesy sayings and just made me want to vomit. I was looking for plain t-shirts. I found none (shocking) so we left.
Example of said terribleness:
Next we hit up the outdoor store. M was running amok, climbing on the bench for trying on shoes and picking out her new shoes (teal and blue Tom's) - which she clearly loves.
While she was wandering, she made some new friends. The first was a man who proceeded to call her "Princess" multiple times. I HATE THAT SHIT. My daughter is not royalty. She has a name, and if you don't know it, please feel free to say "Hello there" and speak to her like a person. We don't use baby talk in our house and we sure as shit don't call our daughter Princess. So don't assume that's okay. Okay?
The next was a woman who sat down next to M on the bench with a few boxes of shoes. M loves shoes (clearly) and was very interested in what the lady had in her boxes. She was pleasant, making small talk with her and then said "Sure you can look at these shoes" so M opened the box to see a pair of black Teva sandals. The woman looks at her and said "Honey those are BOYS shoes. You don't like those." I'm sorry.
What
The
F?
They're shoes, and she's a child. She does not care what "gender" these shoes are made for. She often walks around the house in her dads slippers or my running shoes. We don't differentiate. In fact I try to make sure she isn't stuffed into an "everything's pink and I'm a princess mode" because it's bullshit. I want her to grow up and be a functioning adult, not a candidate for Real Housewives of whatever.
The 3rd gender item of the day was found at Carter's, which I typically love and really can't complain about. HOWEVER. This shopping day I was hunting for Halloween items. I found some orange and black striped leggings and needed a shirt. Here are the "girl" options:
And here's what I bought. From the boys section. Because Jack-o-lanterns are so masculine.
I just don't understand why we try to stuff children into these gender specific roles. Why can't my daughter wear blue and play with a car? The answer is, she can. And we allow it. We work hard to make sure she's not going to be shoved into a specific role but allowed to create her own. So I'll keep buying her shit that she likes, regardless of the way it rings up on the register or what section it's in. To be far, this doesn't mean she'll never wear or own anything pink. She has tons of pink. Her last pair of Tom's are pink. We're just giving her the ability to choose. And hopefully she'll grow up to be a strong independent person who loves and appreciates all things.
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