purple backpack for a boy?!?!

amother ↓

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 10:10 am

Dh took the kids shopping for new backpacks. He bought a purple backpack for our son who is starting kindergarten. I'm really nervous he'll get made fun of having a girl's backpack. What do you think? Should I return it and get a different color?

Lady Godiva

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 12:39 pm

Does it have anything (character, picture...) on it? Is it lavender or eggplant purple? Does it look too girly? If you think that it looks girly, return it.

Barbara

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 12:48 pm

amother wrote:

I vividly recall that my son's friend had purple Merrells in kindergarten. I remember it because DS begged for a pair, but DH said no. AFAIK, no one made fun of the boy.

If your son wanted a purple backpack, I say let him have it. If it makes you nervous, and he doesn't care, exchange it.

PAMOM

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 3:42 pm

Is it lavender or really purple (as in "Barney"--ugh)? Real purple isn't "girly" but I doubt that gan-aged kids will care either way.

↑ amother ↓

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 5:12 pm

PAMOM wrote:

Is it lavender or really purple (as in "Barney"--ugh)? Real purple isn't "girly" but I doubt that gan-aged kids will care either way.

OP here: It's kind of a muted medium purple, not light like lavender, but not bright like Barney!

Tova

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 7:25 pm

[I needed a knapsack for my son for playgroup as the cheap $5 one from Walmart for camp fell apart by the end of the summer...so I splurged on a $19 one from Old Navy...where I found the most adorable girly knapsack that I just fell in love with. So much so that I was actually considering buying it for my 2 year old son. I got him another one, though, as with his pre-upsherin long blond curls he is mistaken for a girl enough! But...shhh...I did buy the girl one and put it away in the closet for when my daughter (now 9 months) needs it.]

Rodent ↓

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 8:33 pm

Are you serious??? It's just a colour. We're not colour snobs in our house. My boys have worn pink nappies, push a pink pram around with dolls in them and our new triple pram is purple. Big deal... If that's what your son wants then what is the problem? Sounds like it is more your problem than his.

Mrs.K

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 9:43 pm

I disagree. We aren't color snobs in my house either, but once my kids began school, it was time to get over my personal 'not caring' and realize that now my children can be made fun of because of my personal lackadaisical attitude.

Color snob or not, this had nothing to do with the mother's personal taste, and everything to do with possibly setting up your children to be made fun of.

As someone who was made fun of a lot in school, I'd return it.

toastedbagel

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 10:13 pm

if he's just going to Gan or year 1 I would leave it alone, if it makes him happy let him keep it
my boys have all said their favorite colour is pink for aaaages - they all fight over the pink plates from the colourful ikea set. only very recently one of them (almost 5) said to his (girl) cousin, "pink is a girl colour, that's why my favorite colour is only DARK pink." he still gets upset if he gets an orange or yellow plate though! I think we worry to much about these sort of things, really.

↑ amother

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 10:19 pm

OP here: I am not a "color snob", I just don't want my son teased! He has a lot of sisters, so I don't want him to get made fun of that he is using his sister's backpack. He is actually very happy with it, and really doesn't care! But I know kids can be mean. I'll probably see what happens on the first day. One of his many sisters can always use it if we need to buy him another one!

↑ Rodent

Mon, Aug 24 2009, 10:42 pm

Personally I think if a kid is going to be picked on, the other kids will find something to pick on. I'd rather it be something like the colour of their backpack than something more personal. And just maybe they'll set a new trend. I don't think that teaching them that they must conform to other people's stereotyping in order to fit in is anything but short term sheltering that won't address the real problem which will eventually arise (and quite frankly they're more resilient the younger they are when faced with it, the skills to stand up for yourself have to be taught sometime). I think conformity for the sake of conformity is a huge problem in many Jewish communities these days as it is without reinforcing it so early.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Aug 25 2009, 12:15 am

its purple, not hot pink with roses on it.

I really never understood the whole craze about "boys colors" and girls colors".

colors are colors and thats that.