Does pink stink? I certainly think NOT!

This morning on Sunrise, there was a discussion on, wait for it, Does Pink Stink?

Weeeh-hell you can imagine my disgust at the thought of someone ripping off the colour pink. You have taken notice of this website now haven’t you!

You may or may not be shocked to know that as little girl I would not go to preschool unless I was wearing the colour pink. Yes, please cue the violins for my long suffering mum!

I was a girly girl, no question about that, but did wearing pink harm my future. I really doubt it.

So, this UK politician has said that dressing little girls in pink is doing them harm. It teaches them to be pretty and passive and she wants a boycott. Pfft.

Check out the discussion for yourself. Clearly I agree with everything commentator Suzanne Mostyn had to say.

Does Pink Stink Video.

So, were you dressed in pink as little girl, or boy for that matter?! Can wearing a certain colour as a child really do us harm for the rest of our lives?

Love thy neighbour, or mind your own business?

So last night, well early this morning we were woken at about 2.30am to an argument at our neighbours across the road. The ladies boyfriend or friend or whoever he is, turned up and wanted to see her. There were numerous expletives when she wouldn’t let him in the front door. The yelling went on for what seemed like forever but was probably about 5 minutes.

He lost it at one point screaming at the top of his lungs things that I can’t repeat, but then followed it up by I don’t want to hurt you. Yeah mate, I’m sure she wasn’t scared of you at all.

So I lay there in bed wide awake, with a protective puppy curled up on my feet, and my mind started racing. Hubby mumbled why doesn’t she call the police. And I thought, what if she can’t, what if he’s got in and has a gun or a knife and is threatening her? She has a small baby, probably not even a year old yet, what if he tries to harm her daughter. What if he hurt them and they lay there all night injured. Dramatic, yes. Maybe I’ve been watching too much CSI or seen too many Law and Order promo’s. But these were my concerns at 2.30am this morning nonetheless.

The 3 month rule

I recently read a very moving story written by blogger Amity Dry called: The unexpected journey to have another baby. You can read the whole article HERE.

Part of what Amity had to say got me thinking about the 12 week, or first trimester ‘rule’ when it comes to pregnancy. Most women keep quiet until the 12 week mark of their pregnancy as this is when you’re chances of miscarriage supposedly go down. That’s of course not to say it doesn’t happen after the 12 week mark.

In Amity’s article she talks of her longing for a second baby and the frustrations and emotional rollacoaster that come with infertility and miscarrage. This is the part of Amity’s article that got me thinking:

“Through all of this I was surprised by how quiet we are as a society on the subject, particularly miscarriage. It seems crazy, us women talk about pretty much anything else, but this topic remains shrouded in silence. I wonder if it’s because we keep our pregnancies secret for the first trimester, so when a miscarriage occurs within that time (which the vast majority do) we keep that a secret too. But, for me, keeping it a secret made me feel as though it was something I had to be ashamed of. A failure I had to hide. It felt as though I had to be stoic and ‘get on with things.’ So I did. I kept busy, I didn’t cry after the first day, I threw myself into my work, stayed strong and outwardly seemed like I was ok. But grief has to come out eventually, as I discovered when it came flooding out in a moment I didn’t expect.”

I can’t comment from experience as I’m yet to try for or have any children. I understand some women keeping quiet in the first 12 weeks for fear of miscarriage and not wanting to deal with the ‘we lost the baby’ conversation with family and friends, but does this contribute to Amity’s feelings above about feeling ashamed? God forbid something happened during your pregnancy would you rather people know and offer support, or would you rather ‘deal with it’ privately behind closed doors?

On a lighter note I also wonder how people actually manage to keep it quiet for 12 weeks, or 10 weeks or you know however long from when you find out your pregnant. These days there’s so many things you’re not meant to eat, drink, breathe in, look at, that it would be so difficult not to get caught out, you’d almost need a University Degree in ‘How to keep your bun in the oven quiet during the first trimester’.

So, as always what do you think? Is the ‘12 week rule’ old fashioned, or sensible medically related practice? When did you or your wife/partner tell people you were pregnant? And if you have any funny stories to share on trying to keep bubs quiet for the first trimester, please share. As I said I’m always intrigued how people actually manage to pull it off!

And just for the record, no I’m not pregnant!