The Beige Baby Epidemic

Truly a product of its time, what is the Beige Baby phenomenon, and what potential effects does it have on future generations?

With the new year 2024 creeping up on us all, we are well into the 21st century. Of course, change is imminent and to be expected with all things. One change that intrigued me specifically was something that, over the years, has proven to be a highly controversial and debated topic. What parenting style is in?

With this in mind, I did a quick TikTok search, as most do when searching for the scoop on modern-day parenting. Sifting through several videos discussing the basics of overly expensive sensory toys and such, only to come across one of the strangest videos I had ever seen in my history of using the app.

In front of me, I was faced with a world of muted teal, mustard yellow, blush, and, most prominently of all, beige. A 2016 fall girl’s wonderland. And it was a nursery. The first creator I stumbled upon while digging deeper into this was @christinakabomoore on TikTok, specifically a video of hers expressing disdain for her husband, who had brought home a seemingly normal-looking baby toy, which was appalling. What was it about this toy that upset her so much?

Naturally, it was after this that I found myself falling down the rabbit hole that was the concept of beige parenting, even stumbling across a video in which a mother with the username @nattiejopo spray painted her own child’s ‘my first Christmas tree’ toy several shades of beige and brown, being practically the closest thing to a modern-day grinch.

It’s clear that this is an ever-growing fad, as the author of I’m a Proud ‘sad beige parent,’ Mariah Maddox puts it, “There’s no doubt that natural tones are taking over, well… practically everything child-related. According to data from Etsy, beige is in trend as searches for the specific color palette have increased 67% in the past 12 months. Baby gear, clothes, toys, and decor have all succumbed to the beige phenomenon.”

Check out TikTok’s @nattiejopo’s “first Christmas tree” makeover here:

Let’s give my toddler’s Step 2 my first christmas tree a DIY makeover

So, it’s clear that in the parenting world, beige is all the rage, but what’s the reasoning behind this odd occurrence? Well, the first thing to understand is that this is nothing new.

Parents striving to raise their children in a calm and natural environment is something we’ve seen for years, and while it’s never truly been to this extent before, this does make it easier when attempting to understand the logic behind this seemingly bizarre fad.

One of the most obvious ways to approach this lies in the modern-day assumption that the brighter and more colorful something is, the more synthetic and unnatural. In the current world of baby toys and apparel, it’s hard to find things that aren’t incredibly in your face until the resurgence of this trend, at least.

It’s obvious that colors such as beiges and muted tones will be automatically associated with nature, therefore giving mothers a sense of security, nestled into the idea that they are raising their little ones naturally, something that is seen as the current ideal. Many mothers would much rather give their children toys reminiscent of the natural world around them, toys that imitate the green of the trees or the blue of the sky, in comparison to the more popular, bright, colorful, overstimulating toys of today.

(Photo courtesy from Google Image Search.)

Beige, baby.

So, it is possible that some mothers currently participating in such a trend are doing so for their child’s good, but what about those who aren’t?

On the other end of the spectrum of this trend, we see mothers who are arguing the fact that just because they’ve had children, that shouldn’t mean that they have to give up things such as their

aesthetic, which, while a valid point, also comes with the worry that this is being taken too far for what it is. It’s a common concept, that of mothers being able to foster a sense of individuality, not constricting themselves to merely being extensions of their babies.

It does become a concern when the mother begins to push their aesthetics onto a child, and while that may be understandable for a newborn, what about when the child begins to mature and want things that represent their own interests? Do the same restrictions still apply?

Overall, this ever-growing phenomenon seems to inspire a very messy and ongoing debate, and as mere spectators, if anything, you can’t help but wonder about the future of the children growing up in these sorts of environments. With odd trends such as these, it would seem that only time will tell.