Buying a little girl a present for her 1st Birthday.

 

So apparently a blue card with a lion on it is for your boy, and a girl must have a flowery pink elephant. Just in case you weren't sure.

Guess which one I bought?

Not that I understand why people need to be told which cards to buy a boy or a girl child, or why the girls ones HAVE to have some floral, glitter or pink on them. 

This little girl in question will be inundated with the lovey-dovey pink floral cards. 

Does it matter when she's so little? Probably not. But then why the blatant divide?

Now for the present! So, according to Tesco, a one year old girl should be getting dolls, prams, tea sets,  dressing tables,and pink princess castles...

A boy? Cars, trains, boats, trucks, building blocks, ball games, guitars, dinosaurs, super hero stuff. The stuff I thought was exciting when I was a kid.

Charlie is 8 months older than this little girl, but as he's a little boy, he's obviously been up to his neck in little cars since he practically took his first breath. He's only just started showing a bit of an interest in them at 20 months. What Charlie likes the most about his stash of cars  though, are the noises. And the lights. This little Fire Engine and Police Car have both.

I've absolutely no doubt in my mind that she'll never have had any experience of little cars, or that anybody in her family will ever get her any on a whim. Nobody is able to explain to me why a man made object like a car is supposedly a little-boy-only toy, especially seeing as just as many girls grow up and drive too.. and build houses, be mechanics, play football and guitar.

Boys also grow up to be fathers, chefs and gardeners, hair dressers, fashion stylists and ballerinas or figure skaters. A lot of them also wear pink. But many would never dream of letting their little boys play with the related toys.

I think it's a bit important to note that female firefighters and police officers exist also.

Society depicts the opposite to little boys and girls - with all the "FireMAN" and "PoliceMAN" costumes and figures.

I cannot stand our society's message to little girls that they should be lovey-dovey, caring little pretty princesses who need saving and protecting- and the boys should be brave, daring, adventurous and heroic. And never the twain shall cross.

The above costumes are designed for a "pretty" (questionable) fantasy-fictional disney-style princess character, or a caring nurse/vet. A pink nurse. There has to be pink. No action, adventure, super hero - doctor, scientist.

I hate it. It is so old fashioned and unfair.

Even if girls do have this "caring nature" naturally, it feels like it's exploited with all access to adventure, dexterity, skillful activity, and creativity cut off - which they naturally have too! Otherwise all women would be stay at home mums and not musical geniuses, Olympic athletes, doctors, surgeons, scientists ...and members of the emergency services. People who literally save other peoples lives. Heros and Heroines. WOMEN saving MEN.

When I was younger I was all "Give me the batman cape and let me save the world". I loved the remote control cars and the helicopter and the boat and the brio train toys. But I only ever had access to them because I had a younger brother.

If she doesn't like these little noisy, flashing cars- fair enough, Charlie's not the biggest fan of cars either at the moment. He likes crayons and anything with lots of colourful pieces. But if she loves them then that's fantastic for her, because they're her very own little emergency vehicles.
 

Even if she doesn't like them right away, they'll be there for her to play with when she's older if she wants. They also give her the message that they are not boys toys, they are her toys. Just like Charlie with his pram and dolls.

Oh and... we got her a blue gift bag too. It was the cheapest but -double bonus! Blue is a lovely colour and, you know, she just may like it amongst her sea of pink.