Boys and the “I don’t like pink” syndrome
What do you do when your three-year-old shows signs of “I don’t like pink” syndrome?
How do you convince him that colors don’t have a gender?
You tell him “But Ama and Baba love pink!”
When that doesn’t work, and you need him to wear a shirt in the morning, and he says no because it’s pink, what do you do?
You tell him the color is salmon!
“Oh, I like salmon!” He says.
There you have it. It was a mental block against pink and not that he actually disliked the color.
Only once did he say: “but it looks like pink Ama!” to which I agreed. He went around telling people that he likes the color “simon”.
On a serious note, let’s discuss how to tackle this issue. In a society where we are still learning that colors don’t have to be associated with genders, there are lots of people who still haven’t even started to learn. These people don’t mean anything bad and they do have an influence on your children. As much as we try, we can’t keep our kids in a bubble. So with so many influencers including family, friends, television, and even school, how do we make a difference?
Tips on How to Destigmatize Pink for Boys
- Ensure the husband is on the same page. Boys relate to their dads more as they grow older and that’s natural.
- Make sure you and your husband both have gender neutral color choices. He can like pink if he wants, and you can like black or blue or white. The keyword is CAN. He doesn’t have to and you don’t have to either. It’s a teaching moment.
- Take a favorite person/character and shoe your son how that character or person likes pink or wears the color. We showed Zaviar how Messi wears pink.
- Scan the shows watched by your kids. Peppa Pig actually had an influence on my son and he eventually told me George Pig thinks pink is yucky and only for girls.
- Never let anyone shame your child for his choice of color. Speak up and let your child know that colors dont have genders. You don’t have to be rude. You can simply address your child and let him know playfully while putting the point across.
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