Pink or Blue?

When you purchase things for your children, is it important to you that the item be specific for their gender?  Years ago, planning for our new arrival, I decided I wanted to buy neutral toys and clothes.  Not because of some thought out process about how I want her to grow up being more than just a label, FEMALE, it was to save money (you know I'm frugal).  I figured by decorating her room in a jungle theme and buying colorful items not just pink & red, I would be able to reuse these items for the next kid.  You never know what gender the next kid will be and I didn't want to waste things because they weren't appropriate for a boy.  But over time my daughter's closet started filling with pink & red, her father insisted on a pink infant carrier, and dolls galore started arriving.  I could deal with it, it didn't exactly fit my plan of reuse but obviously I was appreciative.  (Plus my family knows I will not be buying her many dresses or clothes with bows & frills, so they figure someone has to do it!)  One day while skimming through my daily blog list, I came across a post on What To Tell The Neighbors... Suzanne wrote a post about one of her childrens' Christmas requests and that the toy was what people in general consider for the opposite gender.  Then it hit me, I don't care if my daughter plays with "boy toys" or "girls toys".  I don't feel the need to push her in one direction or another.  If she wants to dress up in a princess costume while rough-housing with boys, I don't mind, and why would I?  It's my job as a parent to expose her to options in life, and as we all know, life isn't always black and white (pink or blue, ha-ha).  She has an array of toys, she loves Little People, not only does she have the girlish pink airplane but she also has the boyish pirate ship.  And when it comes to her bed spreads, she has the cutsie colorful one with animals and teapots, and then she has the one with roads and cars.  Why not enjoy it all, I'm opening her imagination.  So I guess, it has gone beyond being frugal for me.  And this round when it came to choosing the next size-up car seat, we went with something she likes, and she ended up with one covered in a soccer ball pattern.  Why, she loves watching Manchester United with her dad, plus she adores her cousin who happens to play soccer.  And you know what, I still plan on reusing most things for our next kid (when that happens).  No, I'm not going to put him in dresses but there will be plenty of hand-me-downs he can wear.  And guess what, if it is a boy, he'll be using her red toddler car seat and red buggy (no need to spend the money on new ones).  And if the next one turns out to be a girl, well, she has a great head start with colorful creative toys not specific to one gender or the other!