I don't do pink

Inspired again by Sci-Fi Dad, who had an insightful exploration of Gender Bias on his blog this week. Reminded me ...

I really wanted to get the boys a play kitchen for Christmas.

They love pretend-cooking. (Well, the four-year old likes to pretend-cook. The 19-month-old likes to bang pots and pans together and move things in and out of bowls.)

Anyway, I saw this neat, dark blue "Play Wonder" wooden kitchen at Target during the summer and thought it might work. It even had some matching plates and potholders and utensils and such. Great!

But, when I went back a couple of months later, I found this in it's place on the shelf:

Holy Pepto-Bismol, Batman! What the - ?!

Even worse, all of the kitchen accessories were pink now, too! Blech.

Yeah, yeah, I know I should be all cool and say that it doesn't matter and that boys can play with pink things just like girls can play with blue things.

But I detest pink. Hate it. Can't have it in my house. In fact, it's causing me some physical discomfort just to have this picture on my blog. *shudder*

And, really? Things just don't work that way in our society. Not yet, anyway. Even at four years old my Minion can tell you which of the toy aisles are "Boy Rows" and "Girl Rows" just from the color scheme.

And now, at Target, the Play Wonder Kitchen aisle is a "Girl Row".

Target does sell some other, neutral-colored kitchens. And, checking online, I see they once again have a blue wooden one not unlike the original one I liked last year.

But I'm still disappointed that, in the months before Christmas, Play Wonder - which, near as I can tell, is a Target-specific brand - only had the Pepto-pink version available in stores and online. (The pink is still the only one on the shelf at my local Target. Had to go online to find a blue one.)

They did, however, have the matching Play Wonder Tool Bench ... in dark blue. Only. What? No pink tool bench, Play Wonder? Just the kitchen gets the Pepto-makeover?

Why? Because girls play kitchen and boys play tools?

Well, joke's on you, Play Wonder. In my house, Daddies cook, Mommies use tools, and Boy-Minions play kitchen.

So, sorry, Target, I might still buy a play kitchen. But not your play kitchen.

So stuff that in your pink apron and bake it.