I get a lot of joy just watching my
kids play. I love listening to the stories Little Miss makes up, and watching
the Stuntman’s face as he learns a new skill (this week it is jumping off the
arm of the couch, bouncing off the cushions and face-planting onto the rug). I
try to get down on the floor and play with them as much as I can as well, but
sometimes I prefer to just watch.
Little Miss has been slowly evolving into a
real girly girl over the past few months. I was always very conscious of making
sure she had as many toy cars as dolls, and dressed her in lots of blue and red
and green, but now, much to my consternation, everything must be pink, and she
has pushed her toy cars aside in favour of plastic tiaras and Peppa Pig paraphernalia.
It’s frustrating, having tried to impress my own ‘gender neutral’ views on her,
that she has decided that actually, she just wants to be a princess, thank you
very much.
This morning she told me she didn’t want to wear a particular t-shirt because “it’s for boys”. When I asked why it was for boys, she pointed out a speck of blue on it and said “There. Blue is for boys. Not girls. Not me. I just like pink.”
Her wardrobe, once full of multicoloured leggings,
t-shirts and practical ‘play clothes’, now looks like this:
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| A small selection of the 'Pink Collection' |
It’s like a magical unicorn threw up a
rainbow. It hurts my eyes, as well as my sensibilities. But it’s her choice, so
I have to accept it, honour it, embrace it. This morning she wore a hot pink
fairy princess tutu dress to help me hang out the washing. She’s adamant she’s
going to wear it to kindy tomorrow as well, but I might have to negotiate a way
out of that.
I’m not sure if it’s at kindy that she’s
picking up these stereotypical ideas about what boys and girls can and can’t
do/be/play with, or if it’s from TV, or just her own observations of people. She
gets concerned when she sees a boy with long hair (“long hair is for girls!”),
or when a man wears pink (“Daddy, that’s a girl’s t-shirt!”). Cars and trucks
are for boys, and only girls can play ‘mummy’. As much as I try to explain that
boys and girls can both do anything they want, she’s pretty obstinate in these
newly formed views about gender roles. I’m hoping it’s just a fleeting phase
that she’ll grow out of sooner rather than later.
Until then I’ll just have to
keep trying to get the bloody glitter out of the carpet.
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| A dress for all occasions |
