I See a Sad Dad And I Want To Paint Him Pink

Ken Barbie Doll with tux and pink tie princess charm school  Life is a challenge. God likes to challenge people. God really enjoys challenging me, which is why he gave me two girls.

If you've read my blog for a while, you've read how nothing is ever just handed to me on a silver platter. Heck, I'd take a silver platter. I don't even have any trophies for all the years of sports I played. Perhaps that's why I'm drawn to shiny metallic things to this day. They've been withheld from me. But I digress.  

Take for instance my daughters. My wife and I have two wonderful, fun, energetic daughters. They are princesses, and I love them dearly. But based on the fact that I did not go to Prince Charming School, I am challenged almost daily with my girly-girls.  

Lily Plumb pink princess playing softball pink cleats pants glove and bat
Lily's bat is pink as well.  She
was upset when she played
the team that got the pink
uniforms.  
They've turned my once carefully decorated from clearance decor deals home into a gaudy pink infested wasteland. Pink cups, shoes, blankets, Belle underoos, Barbie cars, Build-A-Bears, wooden dolls, dresses, napkins, carseats, you-name-it, it's probably pink. And if, God forbid, it's not pink, than it's purple. And so when the hour long tornado that is post elementary school energy transpires, when I'm wiped out and suffering from a brain-cloud, my house is violated by blush loving princesses.

I however, have never seen the world through rose colored glasses.  I hate pink--or at least I used to.

Mid-2000s frat boys wearing pink polo shirts popped collars douchbags morons idiots
I'm not a violent man, but this...makes...me...angry. 
Don't get me wrong, I won't wear pink now. Not like those frat boys in 2006 with carefully spiked blonde hair, A&F designer jeans with glitter on the back pockets, and that lightly-aged pink American Eagle polo with the popped collar. No, even a coral stitch is too much pink for me. Sorry, I guess I embraced my stereotyped gender role a long time ago.

Yet, with my oldest daughter nearing eight years old, I no longer cringe when shopping in the girls aisles without my daughters.  I don't care about the odd stares by questioning strangers, "Sorry, I actually love my daughters, what's your problem..."

Nadia is arresting Lily
for not wearing enough
pink at Toys R' Us. 
Perhaps you're reading this and saying, "how dare you raise your kids under such an archaic societal precept as gender-color encoding!"  Actually, probably nobody is saying that, because I purposely alienated every annoying person from my sociology classes that would say something like that.

My daughters choose this mostly for themselves.  I tried to get them to like football, and blue, and stories with boys, and ESPN, and Star Wars, and lions, and snakes, and snails, and puppy dog tails. But my girls are sugar and spice and everything nicely coated in a shade of fuchsia.

Sugar Plum fairies bringing sugar plums to baby Jesus
The sugar Plum(b) fairies bring
baby Jesus a gift of sugar plums.  
And you know what?  I like it. As much as I sometimes need a testosterone comrade besides my un-neutered dog to enjoy all things masculine, I like love the girly girl tendencies of my daughters.

And that's the way God likes to work on me. Like a pink pumice stone grinding off my male gender callouses.  So thanks, God, for daughters.  Next thing you know, I'll buy one of those baseball caps with the pink ribbon on it. Okay, maybe not. (I'll just give the donation to the Susan G. Komen foundation). 

14 comments:

  1. I love this. My daughter, also approaching 8, loves all things pink. I personally think she looks absolutely stunning in blue, ... but she loves pink, and will choose it every time. And why not? She is, after all, only seven. Why in the world would a seven year old need to look "stunning"? The time when she WANTS to look "stunning" will come all too soon for my taste. You know what, Rachel? Keep wearing your sweet and innocent pink. I think I just got to like that color on you a bit better.

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    1. Agreed. With "stunning" comes boys. And I'm not ready for boys. Or rather, boys won't be ready for me. (Pretty sure I know how I'll lose my teaching license).

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  2. Once upon a time Lily asked me what my favorite color was...I answered, "I don't really have a favorite color; I like them all...well, I do have a least favorite, and that is pink." She almost disowned me as her Grandma. I'm smarter now.

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    1. That same week Lily saw an frumpy woman at Walmart with pink stretch pants that said "Pink" on the rear end, and Lily said, "Can that be my new Grandma? She would understand me."

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  3. Get your pink on! I bought a pink polo once. It was part of the color explosion phase I went through in 2010-2012. I never really could pull it off. Course, I was never frat boy cool either. I was the guy in the fraternity trying to help the other guys pass classes.

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    1. There's studying in fraternities? I thought it was all pranks, and drinking, and dressing each other up, and talking about exploiting women, and skipping classes, and being the guys who still make fun of other people in classes. Mind blown. Thanks for destroying my stereotype Mike.

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  4. I thoroughly enjoy reading about life from your perspective. Yay for good guy blogs! (As in, good blogs written by guys, not blogs written by good guys...not that you're not a good guy, you seem to be. So on second thought, take that either way!)

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    1. Thanks. I try to be a good guy and try to write a good blog, and hopefully write about things that relate to normal human beings on a deeper level.

      I keep waiting for somebody to tell me I'm full of s#!+ though. Maybe I'm not famous enough to bring out the internet haters.

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  5. I understand, except our household is " anti-princess." My boys are naturally drawn to "boy things"; Ninja Turtles, Avengers, and all things boy fill our home. I know others may disagree, but I am certain it is part of God's design.

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  6. It's funny when homes are filled with one dominate sex, and how it dictates what you do for entertainment and holidays and planning. My parents had the best of both worlds, with two older boys, and then almost a decade later, two girls.

    And Meredith, I agree for the most part about God's design.

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  7. Thanks David, I've checked out your site a number of times, and it's always well written and good to see the British view on things. (Especially American things, like the Oscars, which your poem nailed).

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  8. You know something? I hate pink too. I own zero pink clothing. I grew up pretty girly, but I also loved soccer and baseball and beating up boys who teased me. My dad taught me how to play catch and how to hike without complaining too much. It's all about balance. Your girls are lucky to have such a devoted dad.

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  9. "Like a pink pumice stone grinding off my male gender callouses." hahaha I love it!! And you're such a good dad to jump into this pink world and go with the flow.

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  10. Well, I go with "their" pink flow. It's still not for me.

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