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Some folk spend their entire lives growing up, knowing that they want to be parents themselves. They want a certain number of kids, maybe they’ve even got some idea of the kids’ names already. They picture the life they want – and with a bit of luck when they are grown, they will get that life (if they still want it, of course).

For others, adulthood brings the eventual realisation that they either want to be parents or they don’t. Either way is fine, so long as your partner is on the same page age you – because kids are a lifelong commitment, and not something to be taken lightly.

But if you do decide to have children, you’ll notice that things start to shift from the moment you realise you are pregnant. Suddenly people are treating you differently, and as time goes on they start to ask you all sort of intrusive questions, and sometimes expect you to share with them the things that you’ve not even decided yourself yet – the name being a prime example.

For the couple in this story, it is the gender of the baby that everyone seemingly wants to know – even though the parents have strong reasons for not wanting everyone to know yet. So when the baby shower came along, the families decided to get their own back.

Read on to find out more.

I will not keep secrets from my family

So my wife and I are having a baby, as has been known to happen.

Both sides of our family have been waiting on this for a while, so we knew it was going to be a big deal with we finally announced it to everyone, and it was.

Almost instantly we were bombarded with questions about the baby’s sex. “Do you know it yet?” “Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?” So on and so forth.

The thing is, both of us are loathe to answer any questions on that front because the second we say anything one way or another we’re going to be buried beneath either a blue or pink avalanche of baby stuff, neither of which we’re particularly keen on.

Let’s see how they’re dealing with the onslaught of questions.

With that in mind, when it came time for us to find out the baby’s sex we kept it to ourselves – we wanted to know for our own planning purposes, but didn’t want to deal with the aforementioned colorgeddon.

We tried to make a game of it (“Ohh, we want it to be a surprise for all of youuuu!”, etc), but they were having none of that and the questioning has only intensified.

“But you have to tell us or how will we know what to buy?” “Would you prefer this written with a blue pen or a pink pen?” “Oh, the baby did -x-? That means it must be a boy. It’s a boy, isn’t it?”

We’ve held firm so far, much to the chagrin of everyone around us.

But when the baby shower came around, things got weirder.

Since we refused to play ball when it came to letting information slip about the baby, my family had no choice but to select baby shower decorations in gender-neutral colours.

Yellow and green were the obvious choices, and most of the decorations featured ducks.

Ducks are not our favorite thing, but we figured it was a small price to pay to stave off an eternity of monochromatic baby clothing.

Little did I know.

Because the ducks went further than they’d expected.

Unbeknownst to us, my family had brought extra supplies – and not just a few stuffed animals as one might expect.

As the party drew close to a close they slipped off to take care of this and that – clean up here, organise the gifts over there, use the restroom, and so on.

Today there are tiny rubber ducks everywhere. In the refrigerator and freezer. Behind the blinds and curtains. In the coffee pot. Floating in the sinks. In the shower. In our bed. In our office. IN THE TOILET. Staring at me. Judging me. Watching me pee.

I’m sorry, family. I’ve learned my lesson and won’t keep secrets from you again. Please make them stop.

This is a hilarious, albeit kind of annoying, way of getting the parents back from not discussing the baby’s gender.

But the truth is, that’s their information to share if and when they are ready to.

And it’s clear that their families really don’t take no for an answer.

Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.

This person thought they’d done a good job not to give into the pressure.

While others thought this would be a good moment to share the news.

Meanwhile others warned that even after the baby is born the gender-specific gifts won’t stop coming.

It’s really nice that they’ve been able to keep the baby’s gender a secret until they’re ready to share. After all, it’s none of everyone else’s business until they decide that it is – and if they know that their family won’t be able to help themselves but to buy lots of pink or blue outfits and accessories, then it’s understandable that they want to wait as late as possible.

Thankfully, they were able to keep the secret locked away until after the baby shower, meaning that at least that influx of gifts would be gender neutral. They’ve swapped pink and blue for an array of ducks, and it seems that is a sacrifice they were willing to make, all to ensure that their baby doesn’t get forced into cutesy pink or blue things from birth, at least.

It’s nice that their families have humoured them – and to some extent, unnerved them – for now. But the truth is, the stuff is coming eventually, all they can do is hold it off as long as possible.