Social media has popularized the neutral color aesthetic and it has now creeped its way into parenting. Over the past few years, there has been an increase of influencer parents favoring their personal aesthetic so obsessively that it leads to their kids missing out on colorful childhoods.

The term “sad beige” was coined by Tiktok user Hayley DeRoche, That Sad Beige Lady. Her content focuses on consumer products from upscale retailers that she dubs to be “depressing.” The term skyrocketed in popularity when last year another TikTok user, Nattie, documented her  baby’s first Christmas tree. Taking a plastic Christmas Tree from the brand Step2, Nattie used spray paint to transform the original vibrant, bright color scheme to a muted, neutral version, sparking outrage on the platform.

“For me, that made me realize how far society has gone to prioritize being aesthetically pleasing,” Tiktok user Blaire Allison said. “It screams that, as parents, sometimes we do things very selfishly, 100% for ourselves, and sometimes we think that how we feel and how we want something to look trumps what our child likes. All that it’s doing is ruining our child’s creativity.”

Babies develop the ability to recognize color at the five to eight month mark, according to the American Optometric Association. Child development expert Jody LeVos highlights the importance of color while babies begin to grow and develop later on in life in an interview with The Bump.

“These sharply contrasting colors, shapes and patterns encourage baby’s development in many ways,” LeVos said. “First, they’re easier for babies to see and process, compared to muted colors with lower contrast. Plus, they also help to boost ‘the development of optic nerves and encourage babies’ cognitive development without overstimulating them.’”

There’s proven connections between the color of a space and its effects on the people in it. Specifically, Mental Health America finds that neutral colors, when not paired with any other hues, have a draining effect on a person’s mood. 

“We know from studies that when we are in spaces that are devoid of color, people naturally fall into a depression because we need the visual stimuli and the interest,” Fashion Design teacher Levi Harbeson said. “We live in a time where color has kind of been drained out from our existence; that’s why we have colors like millennial gray. With these influencer moms, it has only begun to be more common and the children are suffering for it.”

After learning about color theory in her interior design class, senior Emily Boothe believes that an all-beige home is not a suitable environment for children.

“When we design interior spaces for class, we all have to take into consideration the color palette of the room,” Boothe said. “We learn about using different shades, tones, and hues to create variety for visual interest. When the room is just different tones of one color, it just feels empty. I see a plain beige room the same way I see a boring office cubicle; it makes you feel bored and depressed. Color makes people happy, and children deserve to not be subjected to a boring living space.”

Not only does color have an effect on child development at home, but it also plays a part in education. A study conducted at Oregon State University found that color is one of six design elements in a classroom that have a 25 percent impact on education and concluded that it creates an optimal learning experience for children. Using this information, Doctor Christina Counts explains the importance of color in the classroom.

“While creating aesthetically pleasing learning spaces is one reason to utilize color in schools, the effect of color on learning is a much more compelling motivation to implement particular colors in school environments,” Counts said. “Each color in a learning space can have a different effect on students’ behavior and moods, making it an important part of the learning environment.”

To create a stimulating learning environment that the students feel comfortable in, Teaching and Training teacher Laura Penrod incorporates her eclectic hobbies and passions into her classroom design. 

“I try to incorporate various colors, from neutrals to patterns and greenery, but nothing so bright that it becomes bothersome or distracting to students, like neon colors,” Penrod said. “Looking at research and my students’ sentiments and feedback from classroom observations, I see that they prefer a classroom that shows the personality of the teacher and their interests and life. They like to see student work and other items that personalize the room for them and their peers. Students like to see themselves somehow in the room, so I try to have student artifacts when I can have the space or area.  We have a shared space, as it is our classroom, not just mine.”

As “Sad Beige Moms” continue to deprive their children of color for their need for an aesthetic, development linked to color is also stripped away from their kids. For Boothe, taking away color early in life isn’t the worst part of this type of parenting, it’s continuing this trend when the children grow up.

“The problem is that the influencer parents are imposing their aesthetic onto their children,” Boothe said. “Every parent chooses what a baby’s nursery looks like, they have to. At that age, a child not only doesn’t have opinions on the matter, but they honestly don’t have the ability to care. However, as they get older, these children begin to develop favorite colors and they aren’t able to incorporate them into their room, their style, or their life. Now they do have the ability to choose their own aesthetic, and yet the parents’ one is more important.”