MY SON Julian crossdresses once in a while.

Okay, so he doesn’t put on full-blown, pink, frilly tutu dresses. But on those occasions after my two-year-old had a bath with his three-year-old cousin, Rachel, he is all too happy to slip into one of her less girlie-looking blouses or slacks.

How we laugh as he prances around happily, oblivious to the gender rule he is flouting in his Peter Pan-collared, puff-sleeved outfit.

How his grandparents would tease him for wearing female threads. And how the politically incorrect rebel in me rejoices.

You see, I’m the kind of parent who believes in keeping things as gender-neutral as possible.

When friends celebrate new births, I arrive bearing gifts of clothing in neutral green or brown, not for fear of getting the baby’s sex wrong, but because I don’t want to play to stereotypes.

And if my son wants to play with ovens, prams and dolls, while my niece wants to play ball, go ahead. I tut-tut when my mother and sister buy all-pink wardrobes, princess stickers and Barbie dolls for Rachel.

Recently, however, I wondered if I was trying too hard to train my son to become a metrosexual.

After all, despite my ministering, my son remains obsessed with trains and cars.

A recent BBC report cited researchers’ concerns over how pink is dominating the upbringing of little girls, and how this might be damaging.

A study by speech therapists in Durham had demonstrated that some children have no problem identifying the colour blue, but will say “Barbie” when shown pink.

However, United Statesbased therapist and researcher Michael Gurian argued in the same report that too much pink cannot have an adverse effect, because humans are biologically programmed a certain way, and rarely can factors like the pushing of a certain colour change that.

The way I see it, the problem arises only when the colour pink becomes inexorably associated with specific modes of behaviour, such as damsel-in-distress passivity, or bratty back-biting.

The key out of the pink dilemma, then, is sensible parenting that is mindful of boxing one’s children in with gender stereotypes.

The boring pink-blue divide and its impact on kids’ fashion, however, does irritate me. Am I the only one who is bored with the blue T-shirt and jeans ensemble sold in almost every boys’ apparel store?

Until boys’ clothes become more adventurous again, Julian will be raiding Rachel’s closet – with my hearty approval.

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