second thought for thursday: just because

ok, this one irritates me.  it irritated me with my son as an infant. it irritates me with my daughter.

people who don't bother to LOOK at the child before complimenting "oh want a cute little ________(insert gender here).

i had monkey girl dressed head to toe in PINK.  pink floral winter jacket (because it's freakin' cold), a lavendar winter hat, pink pants with white swirls, and pink socks.   some dude came up to me and said "oh, what a cute little guy! what's his name?" 

a few months back, i had her dressed in a red top with jeans that were embroidered with lots of colored flowers around the bottom and up the leg, and red socks. now, i know she doesn't have much hair, but does she look like a boy?  ok maybe she could pass for one... BUT...  a maybe 55 year old woman came up to me (we were at an event) and said,
"oh, cute baby!  he looks like he's enjoying himself!" 
i said thank you, we also think SHE'S cute.
"oh! it's a SHE!"
"yes."
"oh."
and THEN she went on to say (do people think things through before they speak?)
"well, MY granddaughter always wears PINK".
what do you say to that?

with my son, same thing. just insert blue and sports things where i say pink and flowers above...

just an irritation of mine.  don't people LOOK?  why would you assume the gender of a baby anyway?  i know, i know. no big deal. they are ignorant strangers.  obviously it bugged. i just want to dress her in blue and green and red and not feel like i have to put on some pink to differentiate baby's gender!

Comments

[Robyn]

Yup, I never understood it. I got cute boy all the time. I was like wtf she has magenta or lilac purple on, pink or mary jane shoes. I kept correcting a waitress one day and she never caught on, I left her a crappy tip. I was like you idiot.

[Mel]

I still have that problem if I don't wear something pink!;)

[Jaime]

Ha! Same thing happend to me when Naydine was about the same age as Ruby. PINK PINK PINK. And the guy says boy. I say, "she's in all pink, did you not notice?". He says, "well, boys wear pink these days". WTF?
Granted, Naydine could have passed for a boy..... but the pink.... killer.

[lib]

that drives me crazy too. i know make an effort to make sure lucy is wearing something pink or purple all the time. i would love to dress her in blue stuff just because blue is my fav color, but dang. do people really think i would dress my boy in pink? what the h? i know since we didn't know if lucy was a boy or girl i had a lot of mixed gender clothes at the beginning so that was a bit of a challenge. BUT i always complimented a green or yellow outfit with a PINK blanket. oh man, i could do on and on...

[Kelly]

I think we have talked about this before. I get this a lot. Well I used to but now that Anna has more hair it's a bit different. She has a blue winter coat and it has little bow ties and stuff on it. She usually wears a pink hat and pink boots. People will ask if the twins are identical boys. ?????? Not only are they a different gender but they look nothing alike! I understand trying to make conversation but, honestly, I wouldn't ask someone how their cat was if they were walking a dog!

[Hyphen Mama]

YEP, both my babies were (one still is) bald. I dressed her in PINK and got the same "He's a cute little guy" all the time. NOW it's just the opposite with my son. Cracks me up.
I have one orange outfit that my daughter wore and everybody thought she was a boy. Now my son wears it and everybody thinks he's a girl. I can't win, so I don't even play the game.

[Karen]

I am with you on this one! When I corrected someone about my daughter they said "oh, my grandson was bald like her so I just thought..."

So they just go by hair?! And she wasn't bald. She was wearing a barrette.

And Micah is always mistaken for a girl, even now. It's based solely on his name. Because it's so feminine. NOT.

[amy]

Some people are just plain stupid! There's no nice way to put it! How can a baby all dressed up be a boy? Why don't they open their eyes and if not keep there mouths closed. Oh, I hear ya!

[anne]

This bugs me too. I guess a man has an excuse if he says "boy" to a girl- because guys just don't notice things like clothing styles or colors (at least the ones I know don't!), but come on. I was just at a YWCA registering Ryan for a baby swimming class, and the guy registering us was explaining how the class worked, and he says "an adult has to accompany..er, uh (looking at Ryan, not knowing which gender to go with)...the CHILD into the pool..." This was AFTER I had just said I'm here to register HIM for swimming. HE is almost one, etc. People just don't pay attention to details I guess.