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PERFECTLY PINK
We celebrated the birth of our fourth granddaughter less than two weeks ago. Of course, she is adorable and we are smitten.
A new pink blossom on the family tree was how one of my loved ones put it.
As the mother of three sons, I really appreciate the girl power going on in our family these days.
Don’t get me wrong. I adored having sons and if I could go back in time and change anything, I wouldn’t.
But after being the lone female in the house for so long, it’s nice to dust off my nail polish and talk hair and makeup. (That is with the daughters-in-law as, at ages four, three, two and a few weeks, the Goddesses aren’t up to it yet – though they do love playing with my makeup and getting their nails done).
It occurs to me how much the colour pink has taken over my home, and my life, the past few years.
I was never really a fan of the colour, at least I didn’t think so – always being lured by the boldness of red, the emotional beauty of purple, the calmness of green and the sunshine happiness of yellow.
Now our house is filled with the pink and the frilly – princess castles, dolls prams, pint-sized lounges and stuffed toys.
Even my blog, with its pink colour scheme, is a showcase to the little Goddesses in my life.
With the boys, there was no pink in sight. I remember one time my mother bought one of the boys a pair of shoes from an op shop. These shoes had never been worn but the son in question would have nothing to do with them. His reaction was not because they were from an op shop, but because they had pink laces.
Replacing the laces didn’t solve the problem as there was a tiny bit of pink somewhere else on the shoes. My mother spent a fortune (the shoes cost only $2) on white shoe colour to hide the pink but no matter what she did those shoes were never going to work.
At different times in their adulthood, I’ve seen all three sons wear pink shirts to work, it seems to have lost its stigma.
The colour pink is most often associated with love, beauty, charm, politeness, sensitivity, tenderness, sweetness, femininity and childhood.
In colour psychology pink is the sign of hope, according to Empower Yourself With Colour Psychology.
“A combination of red and white, pink contains the need for action of red, helping it to achieve the potential for success and insight offered by white. It is the passion and power of red softened with the purity, openness and completeness of white. The deeper the pink, the more passion and energy it exhibits.
According to this site, people whose favourite colour is pink have a deep need to be accepted and loved unconditionally.
THE COLOUR OF CALM
The colour pink has a calming effect on the nerves as a project in prisons in Switzerland is proving.
The project, Cool Down Pink, involved painting cells pink in order to keep the prisoners less angry. The results seem to prove the soothing nature of the colour.
Aggressive prisoners tended to calm down within 15 minutes of being placed in a pink cell.
Some “drunk tanks” in police stations are also reaping the benefit of pink walls and police claim the drunks calm down and go to sleep it off much faster in the pink cells.
The prisoners hate the project claiming it is humiliating to be made to spend time in a room painted like “a little girl’s bedroom”.
So when did pink become reserved for girls?
In her book Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America, dress historian Jo B. Paoletti explains how for centuries children of both genders wore fancy white dresses up until the age of six. This was practical as white can be easily bleached.
Pastels came into the equation in the mid – 19th century but did not become gender-linked until just before World War 1.
Even then there were differences. In 1927 Time magazine printed a chart showing gender-appropriate colours according to leading US stores. Many of the top ones promoted pink for boys as it was considered a ‘stronger‘ colour than blue. Perhaps those prisoners would feel differently about their pretty cells if they knew this.
It was not until the 1940s that it was clearly defined pink for girls and blue for boys. The women’s liberation movement paused colour classification for genders but it has shown a resurgence in popularity.
One possible reason is more mothers are finding out the sex of their babies before they are born and want to buy gender-specific clothing and accessories.
Whatever the reason it’s a wonderful thing for the four-year-old Goddess who tells me at least once a week that her favourite colour is pink (followed closely by green). Her two-year-old sister seems to gravitate towards purple while their three-year-old cousin loves the rainbow but loves blue best.
Which is your favourite colour? Let me know in the comments.
Wishing you a colourful and gleeful week, Tamuria
Cathy Chester
November 17, 2015 at 7:16 amOh, my goodness! I have a son and 5 nephews so I too would appreciate the pink. Congrats on that gorgeous new grandchild. I love this post. Such wonderful and happy news!
tamuria
November 17, 2015 at 12:35 pmThank you Cathy. I’m feeling very blessed with all the pink and girls.:)
Angel Stew & Devil's Brew
November 17, 2015 at 9:12 amWow. This was really interesting. I’ve never really stopped to think about colors, other than to know that red is my favorite, and I feel best when I wear it. I have 4 children, 3 boys, and one Princess. And I supposed the boys were all blues, greens and browns, or superheroes and t.v. characters but my daughter was crazy about pink and purple, and now she’s a baby blue girl. 🙂 I also have 2 grandsons and 1 granddaughter, and interestingly, my grandsons don’t veer so very far off the same path their father’s took in clothing but my granddaughter is all about PINK! 🙂 Nice post.
tamuria
November 17, 2015 at 12:39 pmIsn’t it funny how kids seem to gravitate to the gender assigned colours so often? Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.:)
Karen McDonough
November 17, 2015 at 10:55 amSo funny… I’ve just become accustomed to liking pink, for some reason. I have a couple awesome pink tops… no granddaughters yet, though. I flip back and forth between blue and purple, though, as my favorites. I’m so happy for you that you finally get a little more girl energy in your family…
tamuria
November 17, 2015 at 12:51 pmI’m loving girl energy and pink is getting better all the time. It’s interesting you’re gravitating towards pink without it being thrust on you, as it has me. Purple shares top billing with red in my book. 🙂
Laurie @ Pride in Photos
November 18, 2015 at 4:21 amSo glad to meet another hip grandma…smile! I can relate about the excitement of the opposite sex for grandchildren. I had girls, so when my grandson was born I was beside myself. Hope we can stay in touch. Laurie
tamuria
November 18, 2015 at 9:15 amGlad we’ve connected Laurie. Thanks for dropping by.Yes,let’s definitely stay in touch. 🙂
Beverley Golden
November 19, 2015 at 8:59 amBeing a student of colour, I was surprised to read that pink is replacing blue, as the colour that calms. I never would have thought of pink as a calmer. Rose quartz, which is pink in colour, is the stone that is considered the heart stone and the stone of love and friendship in my understanding. When my daughter was young, we didn’t do only pink and you’d find her dressed in blue or yellow or any other colour she wanted. For many years she didn’t actually like pink at all and now as she’s entered her 30’s, pink is back in her favour. My dear 99-year-old mother has always been about pink and grey. Loves that colour combo. Personally I am more of a cool colour person. Love my blues, turquoises and of course purples and violet. In fashion terms I believe I am a winter. I also do well with red, although earth tones and yellow or orange aren’t in my palette either. Very interesting read, Tami, as I learned a few new things about pink today from your post! Thanks. 🙂
tamuria
November 19, 2015 at 1:59 pmMy Granny loved pink, but it’s never really been on my radar until recently. Like you Beverley, I always associated blue with calm so was amazed when I read pink is being used to stop aggression.
Lisa H
November 19, 2015 at 2:37 pmPink rocks! My world turned pink 10 years ago and I have not looked back. This is a great post! Congrats on your new granddaughter, she is adorable!
tamuria
November 19, 2015 at 3:36 pmThank you Lisa. Pink is looking better all the time. 🙂
Vatsala Shukla
November 19, 2015 at 5:37 pmI am fascinated by the history of blue and pink to differentiate baby gender, Tami. Thanks for the trivia!
Interestingly, there has been a predominance of baby boys on both sides of my family and I remember my late father telling me that when his cousin sister was born, she was the first girl baby in God knows how many generations and her birth was celebrated with gusto. My generation has 4 girls and 5 boys so I guess the gene pool is changing.
So when my sister was expecting I had a feeling it would be a boy and so it was.
That was also the time, when as a doting aunt, I noticed that baby toys and baby wear for boys is limited and there are more choices for girls. We do live in a Pink world. 🙂
tamuria
November 20, 2015 at 12:05 pmI remember that when my sons were little Vatsala – so many beautiful girl things but not much choice for boys.
rozbeads
November 20, 2015 at 12:07 amFabulous approach to color, not just pink. Personally never liked pink and did not introduce it to my daughter. Purple was the color I dressed her in. However, her color choice is turquoise. Love everything about this post. My youngest granddaughter loves pink & purple and loves wearing them together.
tamuria
November 20, 2015 at 12:06 pmTurquoise is hard to beat and I think it’s the colour I most like to wear. Purple always draws me in, but not so much for clothes. Pink and purple were made for each other. 🙂
Delia
November 20, 2015 at 8:51 amCongrats, your granddaughter is super cute! And I agree with the 4-year old one, pink and green (particularly teal) are the best colors, yes!
I enjoyed so much the explanation about pink and blue and how they became stereotype colors for girls and boys, Tami.
tamuria
November 20, 2015 at 12:08 pmThank you Delia, she is adorable. It was fun researching the history for this post. I’m glad you enjoyed it.:)