Robby began lamenting the pink directive as soon as he learned about it. He voiced his displeasure numerous times, reminding me that he is a boy and that his favorite color is yellow, not pink. We quickly realized that we needed to provide an explanation for such a strange clothing request.
Trying to explain breast cancer to a little boy is an awkward conversation. We didn't want to scare Robby, but since the pink ribbon seems to be omnipresent, we decided it was best to educate him about the cause.
Scott and I spent the time after dinner on Thursday discussing and rehearsing our breast cancer speech. When we both felt comfortable, or as at ease as we were ever going to be, we called Robby into the living room. We sat him down and told him that we wanted to explain why he needed to wear pink to school.
Pink, we explained, is a color to show support for Mommies and Daddies who are dealing with breast cancer. Breast cancer is a terrible disease that can make a lady very sick and sometimes she dies. Pink is worn during October to show support and to raise money for all of these Mommies and friends who are fighting breast cancer. Tomorrow he needs to put a dollar into the pink box at school to help pay the scientists trying to find a cure and to show support.
Halfway through our rehearsed speech, Robby interrupted. "Momom, I have a question and my question is this. Is a breast the same as a booby?" Scott chimed in and responded, "Yes, Robby, but you shouldn't call them boobies at school." Robby questioned why, and Scott and the conversation went off track. Somehow we started out with a discussion about a serious disease and it ended up a debate about breast vs. booby. So much for our serious discussion!
After about 15 minutes of hearing Scott and Robby's boobie banter, I tried to bring the conversation back on topic. Robby continued to complain about wearing pink, this time employing logic. "Momom, why can't I just put a dollar in the box to pay the scientists? Won't the dollar do more to help than my wearing stupid stupid
pink? Nobody is going to get healed because I am wearing a girl
color!" Although he had a point, the color was being worn by everybody in his school, and he needed to participate. He begrudgingly agreed to wear the pink shirt he wore when I ran in the breast cancer fundraiser a few years ago with the caveat that it could be removed after his first recess. I am so glad that the pink out only occurs once a year because the battle of the clothes was not worth it!
Peggy, As a ten year breast cancer survivor who initially had a 50% of living 5 years, please do not make Robbie were pink if he is uncomfortable. His idea of contributing is much more important as long as the contributions are going to repetable places.
ReplyDeleteI myself am so tired of this "pink crusade" It has been mainsteamed into a social event and allows people who don't even give a rat's ass about the devestation that the diagonise makes on an entire family. Lung Cancer kills so many more women and men, but society blames smoking on this disease, the forget about the millions of men and women who worked with cancerous materials in the many factory setting that played a huge infulence in such a cancer. People with lung cancer a piarahhas in the cancer world, since a general assumption is that "they were asing for it." How any women do you know know that "cervical Cancer" is associated with "unprotected sexual contact" and contacted HPV.
You do an amazing job raising Robbie. He is a very caring, amazing young boy. Please respect his wishes, since wearing pink doesn't make one bit of iota in the long run. It is the caring and the donations that make a difference in supporting a cure. Just a thought from a breast cancer survivor.
Cindy