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Yesterday, on Kids Woot (one of my favorite places), they were selling this:

Super cute, right? I think so. In fact, we have been looking into building Christopher a play kitchen as we don't want to spend an arm and a leg buying one. This would be much easier and probably cheaper than building one ourselves.

But, my first though was, "It's pink! That sucks." And then I closed the window.

After thinking about it for a while I thought that maybe we would still buy it and then paint it. So I went back to Kids Woot to check it again and I read Woot's product description:

"Girl's Toy? Who said this is just a girl's toy? Cooking's for EVERYONE these days.

Now, if girls want to play with the KidKraft Home Cookin’ Kitchen, sure, there’s no problem with that at all. But we’re in the age where cooking shows involve liquid nitrogen and flamethrowers, the post-Iron Chef age of stunts and physical challenges. Let’s face it, right now, television cooking is well into the range of extreme sports. When have they ever held a skateboard tournament where they dump a hailstorm on the contestants? Pull that on Tony Hawk and he’d have his agent on the phone in seconds! And yet, turn over to Food Network and you’ll find them they’re throwing ice at people while they cook...and it’s not even their flagship show.

So don’t look at the KidKraft Home Cookin’ Kitchen as some well-made toy designed for little girls to learn their place. It might have that pretty curtain and oven knobs that turn and doors that open, and it might have cabinets and a sink and fake microwave and be bright pink, but it’s not the gateway to a life of going barefoot and makin’ babies the way some people think. Male or female, a top-flight chef is ALWAYS in demand. And think about it this way: some banker will spend all day arguing over a 1% fee at his office, but drop him at a four-star table and he’ll sign off on 40% markup BEFORE TIP.

Total kitchen mastery is like a license to print money. Don’t make your kids have to learn all the skills their first year as a sous chef. Get them a KidKraft Home Cookin’ Kitchen and let them jump ahead. And when those tattooed billionaire snowboarders are comparing their fancy pants, your kid can show off his sweet burn scars and hailstone bruises.

And FYI, to the posers, REAL extreme doesn’t freak out at the color pink. Grow a pair, you punks."

Thank you, once again, Woot for being so awesome!

Like I said, I was totally bummed when I first saw this adorable kitchen only came in pink. There is nothing wrong with pink, but you have to remember that I am a boy mom. Yes, boy's can wear pink, too. But being that pink is a "girl's color" I would much rather have a kitchen that is "gender neutral."

And then, I thought a little bit more. Shame on you KidKraft for making a pink kitchen!

Just like Woot said, everyone cooks these days. And since pink is socially accepted as a "girl's color," how 1950's of you to make a kitchen pink. So I checked KidKraft's website out of curiosity. 11 out of the 18 kitchens they have on their website are all pink or have pink on them - a color that is socially accepted as a "girl's color." And to make matters worse, 14 out of the 15 kitchen's pictured have girls only in the picture. There is only one picture that has a boy and girl in it. Same with the doll houses - not a single boy pictured.

Then I checked out their train tables. We have one of KidKraft's train tables and I lurve it. But, that's not the point... There are only 4 pictures with children in it. All four pictures have boys playing with the trains. One of them has a girl.

This got me thinking. It is now 2011, and several years past the whole women's revolution. So, who decided that pink was a "girl's color" and blue was a "boy's color" anyways? Why do we have to worry about such things as "gender neutral" colors? We shouldn't have to, but we do and I am guilty of it as well. And I am sure if I brought home a pink shirt for Christopher, T would question my sanity.

And why is it, that certain toy's are still portrayed as "girl only" toys and "boy only" toys? Like Woot said, boys sure as hell can play kitchen - even in a pink one! And girls sure as hell can play with trains. So shame on you KidKraft and the millions of other toy manufacturers for continuing to put men and women in their place; for carving out certain gender "acceptable" paths for our children.

What do you think? Do you dress your children in their gender's color? Do you only buy gender specific toys?

Oh...and we did end up buying the pink kitchen for Christopher's Christmas present. :)

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