OmegaMom

When you go into a store such as Target or Walmart or Sears, it’s immediately obvious which aisle is the “girls’ toys” aisle and which one is the “boys’ toys aisle”.

The “girls’ toys” aisle is pink and purple. With a smidgen of white or cream mixed in. The “boys’ toys” aisle is RED and BLUE and GREEN.

When we were waiting for OmegaDotter, OmegaMom swore up and down and left and sideways that she did not want pink stuff. When a baby shower was conjured up by buddies at work, and OmegaMom was asked what she wanted for her daughter, she sternly said, “NO pink, please!” Amazingly enough, many people listened, and OmegaDotter was the recipient of many cute orange, green, red, and blue outfits. Amongst the pinks and lavenders.

It’s not that OmegaMom actively dislikes pink as a concept. It’s a fine color, in moderation. The problem was that OmegaMom’s vague feelings of feminism and desire not to categorize the dotter from the start were prompted by visits to Target, where it was very obvious our society wants to shoehorn little girls into boxes where they are supposed to like frills, soft colors, and Barbie dolls.

I am here to tell you fighting against society’s pressures is a losing battle.

OmegaDotter is four. What is her favorite color? Pink. Followed by? Purple.

You can’t buy clothes for little girls that aren’t in the approved color palette. It drives OmegaMom nuts. (But not nuts enough to drive her to learn to use a sewing machine.)

One of my daydreams is to start a children’s clothing company that offers a few basic patterns in various palettes. To soothe those who feel that little girls should wear pinks and purples, there would be the “pastel palette”. To offer hope to moms like me, there would be the “bright palette”. There would be onsies, tops and plain non-frilly dresses, overalls, sweats–all available in each of the colors. To make things a bit more interesting, this company would offer a standard assortment of appliques (ducks, frogs, horsies, balloons, hearts, snowflakes, Christmas trees, menorahs, etc.), also available in palettes, which would be selected by the buyer at the time they ordered the clothes.

Alas, I never did anything about it. The closest thing I found was a place called Basic Brilliance, which sells a very limited selection of clothing in sturdy cotton, but, unfortunately, the “brilliance” is not related to the colors available.

OmegaDotter is not wedded to the pinks and purples; at one point, dealing with the morning drama of selecting clothes, OmegaMom blew a fuse, went off to Walmart (the Evil Empire), and purchased five pairs of blue jeans and five red long-sleeved tops, and announced to the dotter that this was what she would be wearing to school. So the dotter wears red and bluejeans, and likes it okay (it definitely makes schoolday mornings much smoother!)…but when given her druthers, she picks out the pinks and purples yet again.