Pink

When I knew I was having a girl I swore that I would not dress her in pink. 

It was NOT because that coming from a child development degree at a secular university I had been taught that any gravitation towards girly pink or boyish blue was the direct result of nurture, not nature, and that we adults (parents, advertisers) were the sole cause of perpetuating the girl/boy stereotypes. 

It was because I, personally, at the time, was NOT a pink person myself. Walk into my wardrobe and you'd know that.

But when she was born and I felt her weightless little frame in my arms and saw her first smile that first day of her life (yes, a smile in her sleep), I melted. Every notion of banning all pink, and any color near it, went out the window. Everything I had been taught about why girls gravitate towards pink was proven in an instant. Because it's the color of sweetness.We dress them up in it and they unconsciously soak it up and own it. I make no apologies that I perpetuate the stereotype. It is undeniably, inescapably, just is what it is.

Yes, I'd whole heartily agree that our boys are sweet too, that there are other colors in the rainbow that conjure up images of sweetness. But nothing beats pink. (Purple comes a close second.) So, I now have a 6 year old girl that loves her pink. Paints her nails in it, wears it, and chews it. Yes, her favorite pink activity...blowing pink bubblegum bubbles. When I asked her what color she wanted to paint her room, she said..."Pink!"  Of course. Why not?