Woman Shows Up At Her Neighbor's House To Complain About Why His Baby Is Always Wearing Pink
Some people think she responded this way due to her own childhood.
TikTok A nosy neighbor was recorded confronting a dad over his baby's clothing color in a video shared on TikTok.
When it comes to parenting issues, what color a child is wearing should never be a contentious one. In fact, parents who are lucky enough to be able to clothe their children should be left alone to choose those clothes or, better yet, left alone to let their child pick the clothes themselves.
However, a UK woman doesn't share that view and decided to make her feelings known to her neighbor.
She showed up at her neighbor’s house to complain that his baby was always wearing pink.
Echezona Charlez posted to the video-sharing app TikTok a U.K. man recording an interaction with his nosy neighbor. She stood at his front door, questioning him as his two-year-old played near him.
“I was just asking, really, why you keep putting her in pink and not other colors?” she asked.
He offered the explanation that pink is traditionally for girls. She responded that times were changing, suggesting that he should as well. On top of that, he clarified that she has clothing with different colors, but her favorite is pink. But she countered that he is keeping too closely with gender norms, not allowing his daughter full expression.
“I’ve only ever seen her in pink, and I think that’s not allowing her to have freedom of what gender she wants to be,” she said.
She went on to say that if his daughter ended up coming out as transgender that wearing pink for her childhood would have “confused” her. Instead, she recommended that he dress his daughter in more than just pink—as if pink is the end all decider of gender! It’s so much more complex than that.
Today, we think of blue for boys and pink for girls. Though, that was not always the case. According to Smithsonian Magazine, that convention only began in the 1940s. Before then, magazines such as "Earnshaw’s" and "Time" recommended pink for boys and blue for girls! "Earnshaw’s" labeled pink a “stronger color” and blue a “prettier” one, showing how fragile our idea of gender norms is.
“I mean, she would look beautiful in yellow, wouldn’t she?” the neighbor asked.
Hilariously, the dad responded by saying that she was currently wearing yellow. He panned his camera down to show his young daughter in a yellow shirt grabbing at him, assumedly wanting attention.
He called the woman out for her contradiction by pointing out she was wearing pink glasses. Then, in a bizarre tangent, she explained that they were mauve and elaborated more on the different colors of her glasses. After she was finished, he was left stunned for a moment.
“I’m just a little bit baffled to like why you’re actually here?” he asked while chuckling.
“I think you should give her more choices of color,” she responded.
Whatever one’s opinion on raising children is, most agree that it’s up to each parent to decide what’s right for their child. He offered up that viewpoint, but she quickly dismissed it.
“[How you parent her] is to do with me because I feel for people these days, and I think they should have more choices of what colors they want to wear,” she said.
She commented that her mother dressed her in pink, which she didn’t like as a child. She claimed to have rather been dressed like a boy since she had a predilection for “beautiful suits” and bowties. Her heart might be in the right place, little girls absolutely should be allowed to defy gender norms and express their gender identity however they choose, but she does not know this child or what her interests are. Who's to say that the girl isn't picking out pink clothes for herself?
People took to the comments to defend the father.
One person pointed out that her anger toward the father dressing his daughter in pink likely had to do with her own childhood. “At last it came out, this was all about her and how SHE didn’t like being dressed in pink,” they wrote. Another person suggested that she should do more than just complain to him. “Ask her to buy you clothes then! Why does she care?” they wrote.
Raising a child today is tricky, but it’s important to be respectful of others with how they raise theirs. Whether you agree with the woman or not, no parent deserves to be berated on their doorstep over their choices.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. His writing covers entertainment, news and human interest stories.