I know this is a subject I harp on a lot. I just can't stop being pissed off about it. I just WON'T stop being pissed off about it because if I get lazy and stop challenging the status quo, it's never going to change.

Yes, I am on again about gender polarization in the toy aisle. It is SO messed up that the GIRLS aisle is all about how you look while the BOYS aisle is about doing things and making things. Children are so impressionable and their ideas about themselves are being formed with every step into the children's section of any given store. It's all the same no matter where you go -- toys, clothes, books. Unless of course you can afford to shop at the super-high-end, all organic, made from sustainable bamboo store. Which I do, sometimes. But 27 kids in kindergarten means that we have been to at least 20 birthday parties this year and I can't afford to shop at Organic Bamboo every single time.

This time I was actually buying something for my own child. My beloved oldest born who has grown about six inches in the last year. Her legs are long and gangly all of a sudden! How did I get to be the mother of a child who is nearly six?

When Aislin decides she is ready to do something, she just does goes and does it. If she has decided that she's not ready for something, there's no sense in trying to convince her otherwise. She just won't. A few weeks ago she decided she was ready to get rid of the training wheels on her bike. Dad took them off, practiced with her for about three hours, and away she went.

All of a sudden that 12" bike that she got for her third birthday seemed waaaaaaay too short. When she tried to pedal, her knees were scrunched up by her ears! We hoisted the seat up as far as it could go and made do. She was a good sport. She didn't whine, beg, plead, or complain about her bike. She was content.

But I decided that if she was going to improve, she really needed a bike that fit. So we set off for the local crunchy, hipster neighborhood bike shop. I really DO try to shop local and independent if I can. But when we got there, they said they didn't have any kid's bikes. OK, no problem. We'll keep looking. "Too bad," I sighed in parting, "I really don't want to have to go to [a box store down the street that starts and ends with the letter T]."

The crunchy, hipster bike dude said "We don't sell kid's bikes. She'll just outgrow it anyway."

WTF Dude?? She'll just outgrow it? Did you seriously just say that to me? is that how you promote your sport or art or whatever you think it is?

Some people, I think, just don't get the existence of children on the earth. It's not that they don't like children -- they just can't wrap their heads around why children exist and sometimes appear in their line of vision.

We did not have all day to drive around to every hipster bike shop in town. So yeah we ended up at that box store. They had three bikes in her size. She's not quite tall enough for the 20" bike so we had to go with the 16". The choices made me ANGRY. Literally.

The choices were:

(as labeled on the box)

16" MAJOR DAMAGE BOY'S BIKE IN BLUE & SILVER

16" DISNEY PRINCESS GIRL'S BIKE PINK

and

16" TRANSFORMERS BUMBLE BEE BIKE (BOY'S)

I just don't understand why there has to be gender assignment to bikes. Do people seriously have to be informed about who can ride a bike lest they make the wrong choice? In terms of frame-style, these bikes were exactly the same. Why is the only girl's choice plastered with princesses in long flowy dresses that are exactly the wrong thing to wear while bike riding? People say that it's because that's what girls want. But who the eff told them that they should WANT to be immersed in Disney Princesses? I have nothing against princesses or dress-up, but why can't it be one of the available alternatives? Why does it have to be princesses or nothing?

I swallowed my anger and showed her the three choices. I considered scrapping the bike idea for the day and going home to order some gender-neutral, non-sex-identified bike from my friends on the internet. But she was SO excited about getting a new bike. I didn't have the heart to make her wait three weeks until one could be delivered.

So I steeled myself to take home whichever bike she chose. We discussed the attributes of each bike. And she chose MAJOR DAMAGE! We talked about how just because it says BOY'S bike on the box, it doesn't mean that it can only be for a boy.

We have had this conversation before, and will again many times, I assume. About how marketing companies try to tell you how to think and who to be, just to sell you crap you don't need. She's starting to initiate the idea herself. So perhaps all hope is not lost.

And here's the result! One satisfied customer: