I have two daughters. When we go to the toy store or toy aisle, they will pretty much play with everything- both "boys" and "girls" toys. So while observing this, I've learned that what determines what a girl and boy play with is mostly determined by society. My girls actually prefer to play with cars over dolls and I embrace this. I don't try to stop them. So my question is, why do parents continue to force certain toys onto their children? Just let them play with whatever they want.. Why do parents continue to categorize certain things for males and certain things for females? They're both children and should be treated the same.. Another thing, my own mother has said my girls act like boys. I know she means they act rough and tough. But I guess society has conditioned her into thinking that's only the way boys are supposed to act. Well, I just let my kids be and so does she. We don't tell them to stop acting a certain way, but I think other parents do. They let the boys go wild and crazy, but girls are supposed to be polite, right? Isn't that bad parenting?
Not sure on this one. I was allowed to "roam wild" as a child, and didn't play with toys very often. That being said I work in education and in my opinion it's all about the individual kid! Let them engage with toys they are drawn to. If your daughters like trucks, let 'em play with trucks. If they light playing with dolls, dolls it is! Children sometimes know what they want better than you (the parent) do . Yes, the toy stereotyping is silly. If your girls like trucks, that is great. Did you like dolls as a kid? Or "boy toys"?
Trying to remember. I actually grew up with three older brothers and was always separate from them, as in, I was on my own and I think I probably liked having my own girly things. I was the only girl. So I remember playing with barbies. I think I mostly liked playing with stuffed plushie animals. I liked climbing trees and I was always hanging out with my cats..
ha, well I finally got rid of all the plushies..kept one sentimental one, my first teddy bear But, yes, I'm always definitely hanging out with cats, haha I think I was exposed to both "gendered" toys and the neutral gendered ones too..but I'd have to say my parents kind of bought into the whole thing and got me dolls as gifts sometimes, because, well that's what society says is for girls.. I played with them sometimes. Sometimes I didn't. I guess I wasn't that crazy about them. Hm, this is something interesting I'm kind of thinking about now. While I was able to nurture a baby doll, I didn't ever have it in my head that I wanted to grow up and be a mommy. In fact, as a young kid, I was actually opposed to having kids. And it was that way all my life until I reached 25. I was also never really into dressing up in princess dresses or dream wedding dresses and that was never forced on me. Good thing, I'd say.
I was always a tomboy. As soon as I could start picking out my own clothes I stopped wearing dresses. I never chose pink or purple anything. When I got my first bike without training wheels I begged for a black and chrome boys BMX bike so that's what my parents got me. By the time I was in 4th grade I had a moped to ride around the farm on dirt tracks. I had my fair share of barbies and dolls but I preferred to play my Nintendo. I grew up to be a fully functioning member of society. I say let the kids play with what they want to play with. Gender shouldn't matter. Toys are toys.
I think girls can get away with being tomboys and playing with cars/trucks easier than boys can get get away with playing with dolls and dressing up in mommy's high heels. It doesn't really matter to me either way, I look at most things in life as gender neutral. My son only likes to play with toys with wheels on them at this point but if a girly doll made him happy I would give it to him. However I think he would be more likely to attract attention from strangers this way than a girl playing with "boys" toys.
This, but not strangers, the grown ups around them freaking out about this stuff just as much or more so then kids their age. You know, the ones that say they are open minded but arent
Because that's how people have been brought up for the last few centuries and even though most parents like to say that they want something better for their kids they actually don't. Because that would mean that there was something wrong with their own childhood. Why do think a mother in Somalia who had her clit cut off at age 10 will bring the exact same suffering to her daughter once she has reached the proper age. You would think that she had learned something. Not so unfortunately.
I used to enjoy playing with my cousin's doll house.Incidentally,in the early twentieth century it was common to dress boys in pink and girls in blue.
My boys always wanted guns. " get us some guns, daddy." can I have a gun, daddy." We want some guns daddy, so we can--." So, finally I went to places like goodwill and other places like it--literally showed up with a cardboard box full of play guns. I dumped 'em out and just said GUNS!! They were all over them for a couple of weeks and then I'd find them just laying around the yard and under bushes , etc. It seems that since they could have them---soon they didn't care about them. Some kind of lesson there, I guess.
