00:37 - What color are you going to paint it?
00:47 - Every color is for everybody
01:32 - In their toddler years, you'll see that they start liking things on their own
02:06 - We don't want to necessarily push gender specific toys on our kids
02:49 - Let them figure out who they are
Hi everybody, Harper Jones with Bow-Tiger you're watching Saturdays with Harper. And I came across something interesting with my daughter in the last couple of days, so I thought we'd talk about it today. She was making a little pottery thing. She likes to get the clay that you can get at Wal-mart, Target, any of those larger stores. And I think it's made by Crayola, it just comes in a big tub. And it's just clay that they can sculpt, and mold, and then let dry. And what my daughter likes to do is paint them and give them as gifts.
So she was making a cup for her step-dad, and I asked her what color she was going to paint it. Are you going to paint them boy colors, like blue? Or what colors are you going to paint it? And her response to me was "Well, blue's not really a boy color, because every color is for everybody." So, that made me think about the subject of equality, and also the subject of just allowing our children to express themselves in whichever way they want to. Initially, when they're born, unless you did not decide to find out the sex of your child, a lot of the times the theme of the room was based specifically on whether it was a boy or a girl. If it was a boy we did darker colors, maybe blues and some greens. If it was a girl we did pinks, we did purples. And then if we didn't know, we did keep the in between colors of light green and yellow, because that's supposed to be neutral for a boy or girl.
But as they get a little bit older, and as they start getting in the toddler years, you'll see that they start liking things on their own. They may not like the color blue just because they're a boy. Maybe they like the color green, or purple, red, any of those colors. And the same goes for girls. My daughter's favorite colors are by no means pink and purple. Purple's in there, but it's not her favorite. She likes teal, and then she likes a dark blue, and then she likes a dark purple, and those are her colors now. But we really have to allow our kids just to come into themselves and figure out what types of colors they like, what type of toys they like.
We don't want to necessarily push gender specific toys on our kids. For example, a lot of the pink and purple girly toys out there will be purses, or kitchens, or just things that push females into one direction. We don't really want to do that. Same goes with boys. A lot of the times you'll have the toys that are blue or darker colors. Or instead of a purse, it's a tool belt. Well, maybe your little boy doesn't want to carry around a tool belt. Let them express themselves and tell you what they want to play with. It's completely fine for them to explore. It does not mean anything by doing this. It's just really allowing them to be the little people that they are, and let them figure out who they are, instead of us trying to tell them who they should be.
So that was just my little tidbit for today. We're just about running out of time. If you guys have any questions or comments regarding this Saturday with Harper you can give me a little note on Facebook, or you can also reach us of course at Bow-Tiger.com. And if you're watching this blog on Facebook or YouTube, I'd urge you to also go to the Bow-Tiger.com blog and check out the rest of our videos there. We'll see you next week. Thanks.
