Came here to say this. Squid Game is about Late-stage/Hyper competitive Capitalism and how extreme economic inequality, crushing household debt, and the illusion of a "fair meritocracy" force desperate people into a brutal, dog-eat-dog struggle for survival. It’s the world we’re building, not someone else.
Yeah, that was my thought. This is far too intentional to just be “they made it boring and clinical because they couldn’t be bothered.” This was “they are really bothered by color and sought to neutralize everything for the aesthetic.”
I try to stay as far away from that shit as possible lol. I’m a theatrical designer with a background in childhood development and HOLY FUCK the beige mom aesthetic is the intersection of every wrong decision you can make when designing a child’s space. Zero contrast, zero interest, ugly as fuck, and almost guaranteed to stunt a child’s cognitive and intellectual development. Theres a big bright world outside and if you want your child to prefer life outside of your home…this is the way to do it. There’s also this (not so) subtle anti-autism current in some of the beige moms that’s really gross.
I’m all for having spaces that are soft, quiet and contemplative because kids DO need that, but it needs to be balanced with areas for exuberant play, curiosity, and stimulation.
Oh, that's interesting! I had no idea babies didn't visually process colour at birth and then start processing it a few months in - imagine you're just living your little baby life, minding your own business, and suddenly one day you wake up and there's RED!
It’s amazing what babies have to learn to do! I was holding my friend’s two week old and she STOPPED BREATHING, and my friend just poked her until she roused. Apparently new, new babies aren’t great at breathing yet so sometimes they forget to do it. Horrifying. It’s amazing any of us survive infancy.
They also develop depth perception after a few months. Fortunately that’s usually before they develop the physical ability to move themselves around LOL! Facial recognition is one of the earlier developments for vision which is why you see lots of faces on baby things. It’s also why you can smile at a baby and call them a “disgusting little shit” and they’ll perceive the overall interaction positively. They learn to recognize emotions on faces before they recognize words.
From birth to about 5 years old, the human brain is exploding with new neural pathways. Babies explore the world around them using their developing senses. This is why they want to touch everything and put it in their mouth. Infants have less clear and focused vision at first and high contrast is vital for the development of the baby’s vision. You know how lots of baby toys have bright colors and black and white patterns? This is to draw the child’s focus and curiosity with interesting, high-contrast visuals. When they are focused and curious, they play and learn. A lack of mental stimulation in infancy can contribute to a variety of developmental issues. It’s sort of like not giving a plant enough light. It’s getting water and nutrients from the soil, but without sufficient light it’s not going to grow properly. In some ways it mimics the kind of developmental issues observed in so-called “feral children.” Infants also develop feelings of security or insecurity in their first year or two. If the home environment is monotone and bland, it’s possible that the infant can develop a sense of insecurity in environments that aren’t bland and monotone. All of this can manifest in speech delays, vision problems, and social isolation that further impedes cognitive development when the child is no longer stuck inside the home. In the most extreme cases, children begin to act out violently, refuse to speak, and fear anything new. Beige moms aren’t necessarily turning their kids into fearful vegetables, but they’re not creating a healthy environment for their child’s development either. The irony is that many of these beige moms are doing this because they think it’s going to prevent the very types of violent and anti-social behaviors it can cause. It’s virtue-signaling vanity that directly disadvantages a child’s development. They’re so afraid that something is going to “make their kid autistic” or look like a “basic/normie” parent that they deprive them of valuable sensory experiences at the most critical point of their development. I personally consider it child abuse.
It IS possible to design a stimulating environment in neutral tones, but that’s not what beige moms are doing. Even a rich dark brown paired with a light cream is better than tones of beige and gray that are all the same value. Contrast is key, as are pops of color, texture, light, and movement. A quiet space for contemplation and reducing stimulation is fantastic and necessary, but it shouldn’t be the entire space.
That’s a good thing- those boxes are probably designed to hold things the children shouldn’t be getting in to and playing with needlessly. This room will be a lot more cheerful once all of the personal touches have been added in
That's pretty common anywhere they build these enormous schools. A lot of rooms will be like an interior cabin on a cruise ship; no external wall so no window. It's just another classroom behind that brick and it might not have a window either.
It sucks so bad. One year only my homeroom had windows and it made my depression worse. It can't be good for little kindergartners.
eta: There's one large window there and two small ones in the cubby area, but yeah, it's not uncommon.
My high school was built in 1956 and was built with 4 big courtyards in the middle so every single classroom had a full wall of windows. Later an addition was built that was just a giant cube of concrete growing off one corner. None of the classrooms had any windows at all.
I moved from CA where all my schools were open campus to Dallas where I attended one of those giant high schools. I wasn't used to enclosed walls in the hallway, but the lack of windows really bothered me.. Having only one door in and out of the classroom was just crazy to me. I miss open campus schools!
I was in middle school and part of high school in the very late 80’s in soCal and moving from there to a podunk school in western KY was such a depressing culture shock. I never really got over it and barely finished high school lol.
The open campuses were wonderful. And I’d get to school and walk up to a window in a building on the quad to buy a hot chocolate and a pack of mini chocolate donuts to start the day. Hanging out with friends at a picnic table for the few minutes I had before class started.
Except the tiny prison/industrial ones in the coat room that make it look like a room for psychology experiments. “Timmy, I have to go for a minute, but I’m leaving this marshmallow here. If you don’t eat it I’ll give you a whole bag.”
On the other side of the glass: “Susie, if he eats the marshmallow he is a bad boy. You can punish him by pressing this button that shocks him.”
I was literally just going to write this. This is utter misery. It looks like a literal torture chamber, like they're going to do sensory deprivation tests on the kids instead of learning colors and ABCs.
Mom: "and who did you shank with your macaroni unicorn horn Tommy?"
Tommy: "No one..."
Mom: "Tommy Pickles, how many times do I have to tell you this! If you don't shank a bitch on your first day, you ain't gonna get no respect! Go ask Angelica how many people she stabbed today!"
100%. She'd be king of the jungle in a week. Hell, I could see her pulling that stunt from Watchmen. "None of you understand. I'm not locked in here with You. You're locked in Here with ME".
Although I do feel a little bad picturing Rugrats: Orange is the new Black.
I gotta see if I can find it again but I read a chilling article discussing how felons have more rights than children.
All decisions about a person below the age of majority are filtered through the parent, which is logical on paper at first glance, but falls apart when you realize that not every parent has their child's best interest in mind and legally we have no straightforward contingency for fixing that until the child has been suitably harmed or traumatized...
I hate that you have to prove you can drive, but anyone can be a parent. I’ve been watching Soft White Underbelly (addiction/recovery interviews) on YT, and the amount and kinds of trauma that can be inflicted on kids is NOT in-line with a “developed” country/society.
I get going for this aesthetic for an old folks homes because a lot of them have dementia/alzheimers and literally any stimulation or overexertion can cause their condition to get worse.
But kids need stimulation for natural brain development.
The house I grew up in and my house I bought were both off-white and beige. I hate it.
Painted my room growing up green and my mom tried to talk me out of it, saying it would make my room dark. It didn't.
I've been slowly paining every room of my house a different fun color. A few years ago I painted my living room blue and dark pink. Last week I painted my front room purple and my kitchen a bright green. I love it!
I rented a house once where every room was a surprising new color. Pink kitchen, dark blue living room and hallway, green room, purple bathroom, and I think the office room was actually beige. Maybe yellow? Something light.
It was silly and fun, I had to get it after renting sad white walls for so long. The only downside was the carpet in the bathrooms.
From one extreme to another extreme, generation trauma about parents wall colours. First it was puke pink, then eye bleach orange, then milenials grey and temu glamour now
My sister painted her gamer/TV room black and it's honestly the best thing I've seen. No glare, no distractions, just lots of nerd decor and computers/a TV setup.
Exactly there’s so many nice colours that are easy on the eyes I don’t get why people always go with beige. It’s like the most bland colour. I’d argue even more than white
I don't disagree but it's also the easiest to decorate around a blank slate on a school budget. Posters can be colorful, and they can change the vibrancy depending on what the cohort needs.
Years ago when our local schools were renovated, they painted them all the same colors as the local jail (dark grey and blue). They also put in partitions, lockable doors, buzzers to get through the doors, and a metal detector at the door. But they also have SmartBoards so it's slightly distinguishable from the jail. I was flabbergasted when that happened.
I remember having a math teacher in who said a different school she worked at was so prison like, they used the campus to shoot prison scenes for movies.
Sounds like the local jail overestimated the amount of dark grey and blue paint, partitions, lockable doors, buzzers, and metal detectors they'd need, and sold it all to the school on the cheap. 😂
You should see what a standard American classroom looks like before a teacher decorates and personalizes it. Drab. Bleak. It’s just a shell of what it will become once it’s filled with artwork, calendars, books, etc.
Yeah, I was going to say...I don't think a neutral background is necessarily a bad thing, because that space is about to explode with brightly colored coats, bags, posters, artwork, etc etc.
First thing I thought of was this is a really nice canvas of a room. It also allows the teacher to dictate when things need to calm down. Children do not need to be over stimulated constantly.
yeah I'm an architect and have designed multiple schools and daycares. Neutral, calming colors as a base palette is sort of "Design 101" for these spaces. The kids add the color. The teacher will throw up 600 colorful posters and banners within 1 day of moving in. If the space is too stimulating, it hurts kids' focus.
I taught kindergarten for many years and this classroom is a DREAM. It’s peaceful and calm, and has new fixtures and furniture. A neutral pallet that would let me decorate in any theme/color scheme.
My old classroom was from 1955. The original broken cabinets were 2 shades of blue. The carpet was maroon (with navy toe kicks). The kidney tables were blue, yellow, and faux wood. The linoleum by the sink was baby blue. My windows no longer opened, and the room had a sour smell.
And not only does the teacher get to put it all up, they have to pay for all of the supplies… And they only get to count it as a tax deduction, they don’t get reimbursed.
So my kiddo has a classroom with similar colors with only browns and greens. For color they fill the room with kids art. Something about how the room should resemble nature and calm, and how it is children who bring interest and color through exploration. It fills up woth color as the year goes on and their interests are explored!
Exactly! I used to be a preschool teacher and you start with a basic color palette and lots of natural wood so that there’s room to add art and decor without it looking busy or overwhelming.
I’m pretty sure the idea of schools like this would be allowing the kids to decorate this space and make it theirs. So they have a blank canvas…but if that’s not the case, it sucks.
You would think but I just recently saw a teacher post the memorandum she got about their classrooms this year and they literally aren’t letting them decorate at all. Nothing. They can’t even face their desks towards the classroom which makes no sense
Eh, when I was a tiny child every classrom was landlord special white painted cinderblocks and brown laminate flooring with that strange design that makes it looks like theres shoe skid marks on it, so that actual shoe skid marks don't look as bad. The tables were grey, the desks were beige. Teachers made it their own but still, not exactly great bones that they had to work with. This seems a much better starting point tbh.
I was about to say this. Once the kids come in with their colourful backpacks, clothes and lunch boxes, and the toys come out, it’ll be vibrant af. It’s like OP has never been in an empty house before.
Going to get hated on here - but there is research and a growing trend in education (here in the UK) that simple, plain backgrounds and furniture etc are better for children's focus and attention. I know we think it isn't right, fun and is boring- but the fun should be in the learning and the play, not in some distracting and overstimulating displays and furniture.
Sources: Fisher, Godwin & Seltman (2014) — kindergarten children
Godwin and Fisher (2026)
Plain doesn't have to mean bland and boring. "Children were more distracted by the visual environment --- when the walls were highly decorated [bolding by me] than when the decorations were removed". This is also common sense. The trend to remove decorations is quite old. The modernist architect Adolf Loos famously made some racist claims about ornamentation.
I sort of agree. But pastel is a thing. Color doesn’t need to mean a bag of skittles went through the wash. How about blue cloud instead of a sad gray one?
The Fisher, Godwin & Seltman (2014) study was done with only 24 students (and the 2026 appears to have 23). Not anywhere near the number of participants that could provide reliable information. I don't know whether the findings can be reproduced with a larger study group or not, but I would not take any findings from these studies as valid.
There's a balance between the interior design equivalent of a clickbait thumbnail and whatever prison cell they were inspired by for this. Nice, muted pastel colors, wooden furniture, a modicum of effort.
Sure but i do feel like making the chairs yellow and those clouds blue would give more contrast for the babies and tiny ones to pick up on? How i see it from a book expert opinion, i want baby books to be black and white or have bold coloured patterns. Intricate beige/pastel babybooks arent as good for development. I guess there is a fine line between crowding the space in too much or making it all beige?
The fuck? I have ADHD and being in a bland boring ass environment definitely doesn't get me hyped to learn or help me focus. I miss my old classrooms, we did decorating and the pictures and colors made class feel more welcoming, fun, and engaging. College is for boring bullshit.
I also have ADHD and personally would prefer neutral walls, assuming the teacher is going to decorate and bring in more color. Colorful decorations on top of bright, loud walls would be too much for me lol.
The bones of this are good and the absence of colour allows for much more meaningful decoration of the space.
The grey and white and clouds on the wall for example are simply a backdrop and an ideal spot for chidlren's art work to be displayed, the bare surfaces would be beautified with plants and flowers for the children to tend and with a nature table where the children can bring items they find, leaves, stones, feathers seeds or whatever.
As a Kindergarten teacher, I love it. The colour would be added with play materials, photos of children, and displayed artwork - and the muted walls will ensure the focus is on the play materials and displayed pictures.
Circus-coloured rooms have shown to be distracting and overwhelming, particularly for those who are neurodivergent (FASD, ADHD, etc.).
To be truly accessible to people with neurodivergence, the different spaces should have been separated (with screens or half-walls) instead of having a single large room. Colors can be used to help distinguish between spaces (blue for the kitchen, red for the dining area, for example) in order to provide clear spatial cues that facilitate understanding and help focus attention.
Here, it’s just uniform and empty, with very few spatial cues. I don’t think this is really suitable for ADHD and autism...
(Edit : English isn't my native language, so I'm using a translator; I'm sorry if there are any mistakes in my message.)
Anyone else notice how fast food restaurants and other places have adopted the gray or neutral colors for their buildings? It just seems like we’re losing color more and more
A place like McDonald's no longer encourages customers to eat in the restaurant. They encourage ordering it to go (drive-thru, takeout, etc.). Today's McD's commercials all feature a to-go bag.
In previous generations, people ate in the restaurants. And it was encouraged.
I was reading an essay a while back that being in public spaces has advertising alway trying to get our attention with bright colours. This has lead to us moving to neutrals for our home and learning spaces because we find them more calming as a result.
This is a vast improvement over the insanely bright and busy Instagrammable classrooms that have been proven to be more distracting and more disruptive to learning than a classroom like this.
This is also the basic space. A teacher can add selected decorations or color for some whimsy or to support learning without feeling like the entire room is an assault on the senses.
Kids don't need a classroom that's been decorated like a blind at a paintball course or a neon disco. They need an environment that is calm and regulating and helps them learn.
Might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t mind it. (BTW I work with little kids in schools). Lots of the environments are very chaotic, and that can be overstimulating for lots of kids. Having the initial set up be neutral colors can add some peace, that way when you add in toys and kids artwork, those colors really pop. I’m not a child psychologist though, so maybe there’s some research about more colorful spaces being better for development?
I also think people are being needlessly annoying and dramatic about stuff like this. An uninhabited, undecorated classroom is going to look like this whether it's 1990 or 2005 or 2026.
This is like when influencers decorate their kids nurseries with beige and grey mobiles above the cots. Trendy aesthetics for the adults, who gaf about the kids.
It goes with pretty much everything these days. Cars are generally monotone. Offices are becoming more like that. Color and expression is frowned upon.
McDonald's is a great isolated example of how it devolved. Used to be a colorful kid friendly place with mascots and playlands and fun toys. Then the 2000-2010s happened and the following events happened in order...
The mascots became rarer
The Playland turned into an arcade
The dining area turned into a more "fancy" restaurant, birthday parties were cancelled
The Playland became abandoned and sometimes even closed down
The mascots disappeared
Buildings were bulldozed and renovated with monolithic black boxes with hostile dining areas
Prices increased to undesirable levels and food quality is the worst it's ever been
Computers are replacing employees, further push for pickup or drive thru only by removing self service soda refills to discourage loitering while eating, even some having time limits
It's no longer that kid friendly memory making facility that we grew up with.
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u/CakePhool 16d ago
Why does this look like a Swedish prison for toddlers??