I know this is blurry, but I was trying to quickly snap the photo on my phone without being noticed.
When you are the parent of toddlers, one thing that makes life easier is stickers. We use stickers to entertain the little ones on long trips. We use them as rewards for not using their underpants as a toilet. And we use them as rewards for being brave at the doctor’s office.
A friend of mine was at her doctor’s office a few weeks ago and later tweeted a photo similar to the one to the right. I go to the same doctor’s office and recently took the photo to the right.
What you see is two bins of stickers. The hot pink one on the left is clearly labeled in more pink as being for girls and the primary colored one on the right is labeled with a blue as being for boys. Inside each is what you would expect — princesses and fairies for girls, trucks and dinosaurs for boys.
I’m sure this will surprise you, but I take issue with this. Why not have just one bin of co-mingled stickers and let kids choose what they want? I’m sure there are girls who’d like a T. Rex sticker and boys who’d like a unicorn. And why the clichéd hot pink and red/blue/green? One of my girls went through a serious red phase when she was two, while the other one wore nothing but yellow when she was three.
What do you think? Offensive or am I overreacting?
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Well, maybe it just made sense. Our doctor visits were always made longer by the boys sorting through the “girl” stickers (princesses, Barbie) to find a Spiderman one …
But it WOULD be easier to just buy Scooby Doo and be done with all the sorting! A smart doctor would go gender neutral on the treats.
Considering my 7 year old boy likes My Little Pony. I take offense! But he wouldn’t have a problem going through the girl box.
My girlie-girl is still completely bothered that there are ‘boy’ stickers mingled in with the girl ones. Our doctor visits have been made longer by the having to sift through as well. No doubt someone at the front desk did that to make life easier for the number of parents she saw being delayed by the same thing day after day.
My girl had her truck phase too – but the princess and Barbie one lasted much, much longer.
No, it doesn’t surprise me. I am one of those people who doesn’t mine clear gender roles. In fact I teach my son there are differences in the boys and girls and that it is okay to recognize that difference. My son hates digging through ‘girl’ stickers and I know the people behind us get annoyed waiting while he digs through the box looking for transformers or spongebob hidden under all the Barbie, Brazt and other pink treasures. Sometimes he has been known to select a girl sticker if it is something he thinks a little girl he knows would like. Here is an idea – if a girl wants a sticker from the boy box there is nothing preventing her from reaching in a selecting one and same for a boy that might want a sticker from the pink box.
I’d have a bigger problem with all those stickers being pawed through by germy little hands and breathed on by open mouths. Our Dr. used to have stickers on rolls, mounted on a dispenser, similar to paper towels or TP. There were probably 6 or so different ones to choose from and it was behind the reception desk. The kids could clearly see them and would let the receptionist know which one they wanted. Relatively quick and easy.
My kids were born in the “Free to be, you and me” era and still usually chose gender-stereotyped items. I appreciated nice clean rolls of all kinds of stickers at our orthodontist (our second home for years) that were largely untouched by all those hands. It’s the attitude, not the color. You pick what you like now, right?
Ugh –I hate the early gender identification. When I was shopping for onesies, 12 years ago, I bought two that were the same, except one in pink that said “Baby Girl” and one in blue that said “Baby Boy”. Emma (and I) didn’t care what they said or what color they were –only that they were comfy! Emma went through her pink phase, which was fine when it was actually her choice, but why force these roles on kids so early? She’s now a yellow girl, and has been that way for about 5 years.
Personally, I could do without stickers that were linked to some stupid TV show. That’s another thing I wish wouldn’t be so mindlessly enforced by our society.
Oh don’t get me started Jen. I could write a book. And for those who mention their boy pawing through tons of “girl” stickers to get to a “boy” one: maybe that’s a hint that girls like more than fairy-princess-sparkly-pink.
In our house colors are for everyone. And so are dolls, trucks, Strawberry Shortcake, and Star Wars. I have been very vocal about my distaste for the pink and blue aisles of distinction at Target and that Lego Friends are found only in the PINK aisle and not with the REST OF THE F’ING LEGOS! I hate what princess culture has done to our society (both girls AND boys), and I am vocal and active about trying to change it. I want my girl to grow up knowing she can be anything, do anything, and she doesn’t need to use her looks/body to get it. I want my boy to know girls are smart, funny, athletic, and NOT something to be stared at or treated as property. Will a boy swoop in and save the day for my girl? Will my boy swoop in and save the day for a girl? Maybe. But if not? They’ll both stand on their own two feet and do just fine.
My doctor agrees with me. The nurse brings in a handful of miscellaneous stickers and the kids pick from whatever they want.
Our dentist has a bulletin board with them all laid out. No color coding or grouping. They don’t seem to have time to think of categorizing by gender. Maybe we all just need to get busier so that we don’t have time to put things into gender categories.
Life’s too short to take offense, I’m thinking. And, truly, 2 of my girls found the boy ones offensive and ugly. 1 girl doesn’t, but it doesn’t upset her to rummage through the blue box instead of the pink one.
I am absolutely with you on this. Mix the stickers up!
This is how stereotypes are perpetuated, so no.
I don’t care what the kids choose. I do care that someone makes a judgement and “categorizes” stuff by gender. When will we stop this crap – and a pediatrician should know better. It is absolutely offensive in this day and age.
Some of our best dinosaur toys and decor (curtains! Duvet cover!) came from a friend whose daughter had outgrown her love of dinosaurs around the age of 7; we were the lucky recipients. If I had been blessed with a daughter, she would worn a lot of blue because it is my favorite color. My youngest son loved the color pink when he was 3 and 4 years old.
I don’t like the idea of germy hands rifling through those bins — good heavens, the staff all ought to know better!
I prefer the old days with a couple of rolls and the kid chose by using words or pointing, and the receptionist got it for him or her. *sigh*
Blue was always my fav…maybe I was supposed to be a boy ;D
It doesn’t surprise me, but I’d still be ticked. I’d mention it to the receptionist or office manager or someone -things don’t change unless parents speak up.