The psychologist called the risks of the trend of "beige moms"
The trend of "beige moms" is popular in social networks — women who surround their children exclusively with beige objects. Clothes, toys, and the interior of the children's room are all designed in a single monochrome color scheme. Maria Ignatieva, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and psychologist at the Yasno service, told Izvestia on September 2 about how a monochrome environment affects the development of a child and the formation of his personality.
At first glance, she says, this trend looks aesthetically pleasing and stylish, giving the impression of thoughtful minimalism. However, from the point of view of child psychology, this approach raises serious questions.
"The only potentially positive aspect of beige parenting is an attempt to avoid automatically linking color to the child's gender. When parents abandon the traditional division into "pink for girls" and "blue for boys," they strive to give the child more freedom in choice. However, the problem lies in the fact that instead of expanding opportunities, they are radically narrowed," explained the psychotherapist.
A healthy approach involves giving the child access to the full range of colors and experiences. He can play with toys of any color, wear clothes of different shades, explore the world in all its diversity.
"The paradox of the beige trend is that, in an effort to avoid some restrictions, parents create even stricter limits. Now the child is not just limited to two colors, but enclosed in a monochrome cage. The conscious narrowing of a child's color horizons contradicts the basic principles of child development," the specialist added.
The child learns to distinguish and name colors not abstractly, but through interaction with real objects. A monochrome environment deprives a wealth of impressions, artificially limiting his cognitive abilities.
"Although beige is indeed associated with calmness and tranquility, in order to form a healthy psyche, a child needs to interact with a full range of color impressions. Even so-called "aggressive" colors play an important role in the development of emotional regulation. Encountering a variety of stimuli in a safe home environment, the child gradually learns to cope with various emotional states," Ignatieva noted.
Bright colors can be exciting, but this is what helps the baby develop self-control skills and adapt to changing conditions. It's not just about colors, but also about shapes, textures, and materials.
Smooth and rough, soft and hard, round and angular — all these differences enrich the child's sensory experience, the therapist emphasized. The child's psyche is as plastic as possible at an early age, and the more diverse impressions a child receives during this period, the more adaptive and stress-resistant he will grow up to be. The desire for beauty and harmony in the home is understandable and natural, but it is important to remember that childhood is not a decoration for perfect photographs, but a critical period of personality formation. The aesthetic preferences of parents should not limit the child's development.
A reasonable compromise may be to create a predominantly calm, harmonious space with the inclusion of bright accents. The main task of parents is not to create the perfect picture for public admiration, but to provide the child with conditions for full development, the expert concluded.
On August 22, Alexander Wenger, Professor of the Department of Child and Family Psychotherapy at the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at MGPPU, told how to determine the nature or even psychological illnesses of a child from an ordinary child's drawing. The psychologist explained that it is impossible to make a psychological portrait based on one feature, but one of the indicators may be the pressure of the pencil.
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