Daddy cool: Until our daughter turned two we thought we were winning the battle against all things pink.

Until our daughter turned two we thought we were winning the battle against all things pink. It had been something of a struggle – you try buying tops, skirts, trousers that aren't pink. Even her bedding is "Boys" blue – she likes tractors (which come in blue) and wasn't that bothered about fairies (which come in pink). However, it is not always possible and her wardrobe now contains more pink than Barbara Cartland ever owned.

Yellow had been firmly planted as our daughter's favourite colour (maybe I brainwashed her by painting her nursery that colour) but in the last six months pink has been emerging in her conscience.

With the confidence of a teenager she has definitively told us that mummy likes "blue" and daddy likes "red" and she likes "yellow… and pink."

I'm not against pink; in past centuries it was a male colour and a sign of prowess and strength, now it is used to package little girls as princesses rather than little boys as tough guys.

Other colours are also playing a new part in her life.

In competitive daughter mood she can usually trump anything I say. Recently I told her I had been in the mountains and had seen a red kite. I know that is confusing because kites are not birds to a two-year-old, they are toys that older children have and she sees in books. However, she got over this confusion, or rather ignored it, and proudly boasted she had seen a yellow kite.

I went on to tell her about the deer I had seen. She was interested and said she had been up a mountain as well and seen cows. Then, after a pause, she said she had also seen deer when walking up a mountain, "a white one" (interesting … must find out where), "a brown one, and a black one." So far all were just about plausible until the little font of all knowledge told me of a "red one … and a blue one … and a yellow one."

But pink is always our daughter's colour and no-one else is allowed to have it. You try telling her that daddy's favourite colour is pink – the reply is either a smiling "no, don't be silly" or a screaming "no, no, nooooo!"

Either way, our daughter has gone to the pink side and I feel it may be some years before she returns.

This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 24 January, 2010