Mum Furious At Mother In Law Who Doesn't Feel Comfortable Buying Her Grandson A Pink Bike!

Mum Furious At Mother In Law Who Doesn’t Feel Comfortable Buying Her Grandson A Pink Bike!

Stereotypes are still engrained in some people’s minds with many believing certain colours are not appropriate for certain genders. More specifically, boys should have nothing to do with the colour pink!

A disbelieving mum wrote to discussion forum Reddit recently to discuss an issue she had with her very conservative mother in law. The problem arose after the grandma offered to buy her son a bicycle. The anonymous mum explained that before her late husband passed, she and her mother-in-law had a great relationship.

JNMIL just CAN’T buy him a pink bike.
byu/pinkMIL inJUSTNOMIL

Now that her husband has passed away, she feels like she doesn’t have anyone there to help back up her arguments. Saying she has very little to do with her inlaws, the problem is her son adores them and can’t get enough of being around them.

“He absolutely loves his grandparents” she wrote. “But we have increasingly different values and I’m just not sure how much longer a relationship with them is going to work for us.”

She explained that her inlaws are conservative Christians “and my new husband and I could be described as liberal nonbelievers.”

Their stark differences came to light recently after the grandma offered to buy her son a bike, thinking that being in isolation would be a good time for him to learn.

“We went on Amazon and I showed him a well-rated bike,” she said. “He picked the green color and I sent the link to MIL since she has been hounding me for ways she can help during quarantine.”

Unfortunately the green colour was sold out so the son was asked to choose his second favourite colour. Turns out that was pink.

“I was totally unsurprised, he loves Skye from Paw Patrol, Pinky Pie from MLP, Rosie from Thomas and friends, etc.” she wrote. “He doesn’t see pink as a ‘girl’s colour’ and I’m happy about that.”

The mother knew her 4 year old son would probably only have the “balance bike for probably a year, it’s literally not a big deal.”

Totally not a big deal, right? Wrong! The MIL wrote back saying she felt very uncomfortable ordering a pink bike for her grandson. She wrote the mum an email that read, “I’m sorry, I just can’t order him a bike in pink. I just don’t feel comfortable.”

She ended the email with a link to some other bikes that may be ‘more suitable.’

“Really, MIL? You just CAN’T order a pink bike that your grandson asked for because…it’s the wrong color for his gender?” she wrote. “Okay fine, wouldn’t want to challenge you too much. I guess I won’t tell her about the rainbow T-shirt he picked out last week…”

Commenters were quick to show support to the mum with comments like:

“Actually, pink used to be the color for boys. Even men. Since red was the manly man colour and pastel pink was the softer version of it. Often worn by men in the working class. It only developed into a color for girls around the middle of the 20th century. It was perfectly normal in the 1920s for men to wear pink suits. Tell your MIL that since she’s so much older than you guys she should know that.”

“My MIL once commented on my infant son wearing a pink collared shirt,” someone else wrote. “For the next three or so years I would dress him in a pink shirt every time she saw him. The best part was that at age two his favorite colour was purple and he had bright purple shoes. MIL has learned that all colours are for everyone because my kids have corrected her.”

“When I was 5, I wanted a pink tricycle,” another wrote. “My father didn’t approve but my mum allowed me to have it. I’m 35, now, and I still love pink. We laugh about my pink bike from time to time. There’s no harm in it. Bravo to you for sticking up for your kid’s preferences!”

The mum ultimately decided to laugh off the incident saying it was her MIL who clearly had an issue not her. And besides, her son has a whole rainbow of favourite colours so he could care less which bike he gets.

“Honestly when I ask him what his favourite colour is he starts listing off all the colours of the rainbow,” the mum explained. “So he will be happy with whatever colour bike he gets. I’m lucky that he’s pretty easy going.”

Images: Pixabay