Gendering Our Children?

I'm all for reading books to children, but why is it that it is SO categorized by gender. You go to a baby shower and if the parents are having a girl, everything is PINK PINK PINK. Pink lace, pink ribbons, pink icing, pink booties with pink roses and pink birds. What kind of bird is pink?

The picture above caught my attention especially after my shift at the daycare. My energetic preschoolers tends to interact with other children regardless of the gendered activities. Girls play with toy cars and trucks and boys play dress up and with dolls. We allow it, because it is wrong not to. If a child wants to venture off, why not? Who are we to limit their imaginations and their learning by imposing our socially unequal, prejudicial and simplified NORMS?

The problem is that the issue is black and white (or blue and pink?). It is a dichotomous structure of one or the other. Binary thinking prohibits any grey area, any ambiguous sections and assigns no space for anyone or anything that falls in the middle somewhere. It excludes, then, mixed raced individuals, bisexual/transgendered/transexual individuals, single parents, interracial marriages etc. Then, it excludes children that want to take part in activities and even reading books that is not assigned for their gender.

Using books, children are taught early on (in addition to the teaching of parents, teachers and caregivers), that they belong in a specific category. Unlike our preschool room, there are certain children that are taught that in an environment, you must perform your gender accordingly. Those that deviate from this are often punished through shame and ridicule.

Sad how our world is pink and blue.... With those damn pink birds.