While doing a little online Christmas shopping yesterday, I came across an article about two moms who were challenging a toy company on their practices of manufacturing kitchen playsets and play vacuum cleaners and all kinds of household toys in the color pink.   The moms are sisters, one of twin girls and one of twin boys, and they are asking for a boycott against the Early Learning Center .

Apparently they feel that there is color gender bias in the toys that the Early Learning Center is promoting as educational toys that help children to reach their full potential in life.

That article led me to another post and another article and another news clip and …well you get the idea.  There were all kinds of feminists joining in the conversation and agreeing that giving our little girls clothes and toys the color pink will somehow teach them that they are less valuable than boys, which in turn leads to unequal pay and status in the working world.

Christmas shopping got put on hold as my ‘ire raised over the thought that people really do think the color of clothing kids wear, or the hue of the toys they play with actually determines a child’s potential.

My fullout response to these two moms and their campaign labeled “Pinkstinks” is….”GIVE ME A BREAK!”.I

As the mother of two grown children I believe that color choices in clothing and toys plays a very very very …can I say it one more time…VERY small part in a child’s own self worth!  If a parent determines to tell their child that the color pink is for girls and sissy’s, then it is that parent who is telling the child that loves pink, “you’ll never grow up to be as good as boys”.

My daughter is the most determined, motivated, outspoken child I know.  She is a 4th year pre-vet student with a 4.0 and on the dean’s list at college.  She’s fighting her way through what used to be a  male dominated vocation…all the while still loving the color pink.  She raises the bar and the curve for all the “boys” on tests in many difficult classes…and some days she’s even wearing pink while she’s doing it.  Those silly boys probably think she won’t do very well on the test because she has a pink shirt on.

Guess those pink cowboy boots that she insisted on wearing to school every day during 3rd grade should have held her back….BUT THEY DIDN’T!  Or maybe I should have thought twice about buying her that pink Barbie house that she and her friends played with almost daily for almost 2 years.  I just didn’t realize the pink house was telling her she “wasn’t worthy”.

She’s bullheaded and stubborn and knows exactly what she wants, yet she has just the right amount of feminine qualities that make her sweet, adorable and attractive to men.  Don’t we all want that?  Do we want to all together abandon the color pink because it’s too feminine?

Did I fret about her earning and learning potential when she recently decorated her bedroom in her new house all in red-black-and …your guessed it…PINK!  Heck No!  It never occurred to me to be fearful that my daughter was stereotyping herself and devaluating her income potential by putting some pink into the mix of things.

Oh…our daughter is also only 5’1″ and weighs all of 100 lbs.  In addition to not giving a hoot or care about her pink days…we also never let her think she would always be an underachiever because of her size.  For that matter, she played competitive soccer for 9 years.  Guess we also forgot to let her know that she’d never be an accomplished athlete because she was too small?

Between her preference for the color pink and her size it’s amazing she’s doing anything other than sitting around whining about her destiny because she’s “not good enough”.

I’ve tried not to influence or comment on the choices my kids have made when it comes to their clothing and the color of toys they wanted to play with (that last part is almost laughable as I type it).   Those outspoken angry moms of “Pinkstinks” are simply telling their daughters that to like and chose the color pink is bad!  It’s not the color choices that are hurting are daughters…it’s the parents attitude towards their kids color choices

Remember when pink was all the rage for men’s shirts a few years ago.  It was everywhere!  Pink shirts..pink ties…even pink sportscoats.  I’m sure those men in their pink shirts didn’t walk into the office thinking they were going to get paid less that day??

Personally, I was pretty much a “blue” gal growing up.  Still am for that matter.  My mother also never wore any kind of pink whatsoever that I remember, yet somehow despite the obvious lack of pink in her life she opted to become a stay at home mom and homemaker.   As a matter of fact there was literally nothing “pink” at all about my mother.  Was it her choice of blue and red and green in her wardrobe and house that determined her she was not worthy to enter the workforce ??  I think not!!!!

I think these two moms have gotten their knickers in a bunch all about nothing and need to lay off.   They are just making excuses for whatever reason…maybe a lack of anything better to do or think about.  Maybe they should be spending more time with their children and less time worrying about what color of toys are being stocked on the shelves of  Walmart or Toys ‘R Us.

If your daughter likes pink, or purple, or red, or blue…or whatever color she likes, then let her have at it.  Chances are the only thing that will make her feel that she’s choosing an “outdated gender roll”  is how you as parents react to and respond to her color choices.  Let her like what she likes.

Same thing for your sons…just because they like to play with red firetruck toys or green GI Joes won’t automatically shove them up the payscales of life.   Liking and playing with the color blue or black will not make them any “more manly”, just as the color pink will not make your daughter any “more girly”.  COLOR DOES NOT DEFINE US!

There are some areas of our children’s lives where we need to let them decide for themselves what they like and don’t like…and colors is one of those areas.  Let’s face it…no matter what boys are different than girls, and girls are different than boys…and no matter what we are never ever going to change that!  That’s just one of those facts of life.

Now I’m off to pick up where I left off on my Christmas shopping before I got sidetracked.

No need to say much.  We just wanted to help spread the word about the new 2009 U.S. Pirg report on Toy Safety.  Below is the reprint from the U.S. Pirg site so you can read all the information and navigate around the site yourself.  All Child’s Play is extremely concerned about Toy Safety and strives to help keep all parents aware of toys to avoid this Christmas.