Nature vs Nurture

In the future, if I have a daughter, I will dress her in all colours of the rainbow instead of forcing her into pink frocks. If I have a son, he will not be stuck with red and blue as his primary colours. Of course, it may be hard to find pink outfits for little boys, so I'll put him through his pink phase when he's a toddler and can wear pink rompers.

I really don't know why so many girls love the colour pink. I mean, I like the colour myself (it's my favourite after shades of purple) but why do so many girls love pink, as opposed to red/blue/green/orange/black/etc?

Is it because we girls are brought up in a world where 'pink' symbolizes femininity? Is it because we were brought up in pink rooms and pink clothes and pink accessories? I don't really know, so I'm going to test it out with my children :D Of course, it may happen that my baby girl loves pink despite any attempt to bring her up without any conditioning. :/ 

How hard is it to de-condition after being brought up in an environment that insists that 'pink is for girls' and 'blue is for boys?'

But I think it will still be interesting to find out, and I'm sure it will irk some of my family members when I attempt to dress my little girl in tomboyish clothes. But I will be very fair! I will dress her in frocks and jumpsuits and jeans and let her choose what she likes.

When my mom came to Australia, she bought sticker books for my niece and nephew. A Harry Potter themed one for the boy, and a Disney Princess one for the girl. I asked her if my niece really liked pink princessy things, and my mom was like 'YESSS she loves princessy stuff!' I shrugged and said ok.

However, when I went to Penang this holiday with my cousins and aunts (an all-girl holiday except for my 10-year-old nephew), I discovered that my niece does NOT, in fact, love pink things! My cousin told me that she's always in pink because she looks adorable in pink dresses. When I asked my niece how she feels about them, she shrugged and frowned, clearly unhappy with the fact she was all dolled up and girly-fied.

Ya, I have big bony feet D:

Also, it's worth mentioning that at barely 5-years-old, she's already very self-conscious about her weight. I was told that she even goes on diets, because people constantly call her fat (including her parents, grandparents and brother).

ISN'T IT HORRIBLY DEPRESSING THAT A MERE CHILD CHOOSES TO PUT HERSELF ON A DIET?

It's insane!

Some of my family members say it's 'for her own good', citing the example of one of my cousins who was allowed to be fat during her childhood and remains, to this day, bigger than what is glamourized in TV and magazines. No one highlights the fact that people still find her very attractive and in my eyes, she is not FAT at all! Just that 'she's bigger than she would have been if she didn't eat so much as a child.' -__-

Of course, people cite health reasons and her future self-esteem as excuses to encourage fat-shaming a little girl. 'She'll thank us later' seems to be the underlying motto in these situations.

But COME ON LA. Do you know how bloody fat I was as a child? I had THREE fucking chins at one point of my life! I looked like the offspring of the Michelin man and the Fat Lady. And look at me now! I'M 'TOO' THIN for society!

Me at ages 3, 6, and current (I was the fattest around 4-5 years old but do not have any photos on hand):

3 years old with 不倒翁

6 years old with mom (my face is no longer U-shaped)

20 years old. Looks like I deflated over the years. (See, it's possible -_-)

I highly doubt that being fat as a child automatically means that you will be fat as an adult. My cousin that's constantly being brandished as an example was merely a coincidence (and I STILL don't think she's overweight at all - she's actually in the group picture above - you try and pick her out la. CANNOT RIGHT?). I mean, most toddlers are viewed as chubby, happy bundles of joy...how is it acceptable to allow a child to go on a diet because she is pressured by people around her to be 'healthy' and 'lose weight'?

She's FIVE, people. FIVE. Not even in kindergarten yet and she's already so embarrassed about her weight. So what if this makes her a thin and beautiful teenager? What if her self-esteem is irrevocably damaged by all the snarky comments from the people she loved and trusted as a wee child? I still think that what people FEEL is more important than what people LOOK like.

I mean I'm not saying people are wrong and ignorant for being self-conscious if they're overweight. I'm saying that a person should have the right (and a child an actual CHANCE) to choose HOW to feel about their selves, and not just measure their self-worth with society's almighty ruler of acceptable appearance.

Okay, I don't know why almost every time I blog, I end up ranting about something I just meant to mention briefly. -__- Sorry sorry, okay I will talk about other things in a separate post, ok?