My daughter loves pink, and I am OK with that… Now!

I have grown up being told that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Why? Since when? Who said so? None of these mattered. The gifts for girls would be pink in colour, even the special champagne for women from Moet is pink! And somewhere around all these notions generated by marketing teams of companies, I grew to despise the colour and everything it stood for.

So the day my daughter announced that her favourite colour is pink I was heartbroken! I was shattered! I saw it as the betrayal of the worst kind that my own flesh and blood could love THAT colour. So, she had her pink bag (gifted by her aunt), her pink clothes (gifted again), pink hairbands (bought under duress), pink shoes (personally selected) and even favourite pink skirt (also gifted).

And then something funny happened!!!

She wanted a pink football for her little cousin brother. She requested a pink doctor’s set; she loved Bahubali’s pink costume in one of the scenes of the movie. And that’s where it hit me, she sees it as just another colour! It stands for nothing but itself – the pink colour.

While I hadn’t really made my peace with the colour, this realization gave me fresh perspective.

So, now her play shoes are pink – the one that she kicks the football or plays cricket with. Her leggings are pink – the ones that protect her knees from the scrapes if she falls when playing. Her monsters and sad Donald Duck are pink – the ones that she has painted the walls of our home with. Having said that her favourite princess, her favourite dress, her favourite doll are all pink in colour too. And with time, she has also figured that the toys in the pink Kinderjoy has not half as exciting as the blue ones. So that’s her choice now.

And now she has added yellow and white to her favourite wala colour palate too. So, the request for everything is in a combination of three colours now – no prizes for guessing which those three are!

Through all this, I have also reviewed my own colour palate. While pinks are in no danger of entering my wardrobe anytime soon, I don’t see red at it anymore! Pink for me is no more sissy or soft or girly or any of the sort. It is just another colour that may be the colour of choice for girls or boys.