"Boy" toys and "Girl" toys

[DMickey28]

I have one DS. My DH's family is very strong on boys so I have no doubt we may have more boys than girls.

I will get my DS cars, GI Joes, Play kitchens, cabbage patch kids and anything else he wants to play with. (Obviously not anything he wants when he wants it .. you know what I mean!!) I could care less as could my DH. He grew up very openminded!! I might draw the line if my DS specifically requested a Barbie doll but I wouldn't care if he played with his Sisters!!

 

[Beth76]

I don't think it is that much harder to say Barbie or Hotwheel than girl toy or boy toy.

But then you have to expect everyone to remember what exact toys they have at that time. Then it would undoubtedly lead to: "Well what kind of super heroes do you have? What color teddy bears do you have"?

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

I also have complained to McDonalds in the past over boy or girl toy my daughters picked hot wheels that drove over little plastic Barbie toys that did nothing everytime. I don't think it is that much harder to say Barbie or Hotwheel than girl toy or boy toy.

You must have different McDonalds where you come from. I'm happy when I say Quarter Pounder and I get one of those. I think 'boy' and 'girl' requires less retraining for each promotion.

Depending on the promotion, I'll say girl or boy. My son likes little bears and animals more than some of the other stuff they have.

 

[CraftyMouse]

Depending on the promotion, I'll say girl or boy. My son likes little bears and animals more than some of the other stuff they have.

I agree that it's easy enough to just say "boy" or "girl". What bothers me is that it is giving the kids the message that they are gender specific. It makes it much harder for some little boys to admit they'd rather have the Barbie or Build-A-Bear than the Hot Wheels or Super Heroes (or for little girls to admit the opposite). Is it really too much to expect them to remember the current promotion??? I know that working at McDonalds isn't rocket science but come on!

 

[Sprthrcksplthchld]

Hmmm....do they sell that kit at Toys are Us?

No, but at WalMart (ours anyway) they do sell a "Children's Tattoo Kit". It comes with some sort of an 'ink' pen and some pre-cut dies to trace onto the skin. I believe it's washable ink..or at least I hope so!

Spr

 

[LadyShiva]

I think I'm going to go back to Sam's Club and get the "power workshop" for my daughter after all. Last night, I pointed out to my DH that the "Heroes" clothing trunk (firefighter, policeman, cowboy) was marketed to boys, while girls got the "Princess" trunk. Kinda stuck in my craw, I have to admit.

Brandie

 

[disneydiva06]

I have a friend who FLIPPED when she saw that I let DS play with my old handbags. Totally uncalled for, IMO. I don't think it really matters whether or not a toy is for "boys" or "girls". Heck, when I was younger, I used to play "Car Show" with Hot Wheels cars!!

 

[smartestnumber5]

When my brother and I were kids I had a ton of Barbies and my grandparents bought me a pretty little table to have tea on. I had no interest in the tea table, and mostly what I did with the Barbies was chew on their feet. My brother, though, spent many hours playing with the Barbies and having tea at the table. My parents didn't care. My brother also liked to play dress up a lot. He made a pretty cute girl with a wig and makeup and a dress and heels on!

One of the things I dread about having kids is the attitude amongst many people (an especially amongst toy makers and advertisers) that there are "girl" toys and "boy" toys or "girl" clothes and "boy" clothes. We are already thinking that when GF is pregnant even if we know the sex of the baby, we don't want to tell the rest of my family because then they'll only buy us "girl" themed or "boy" themed toys/clothes/products/equipment. Too bad we can't keep the kid's gender secret even after it's born!

 

[Sleepy]

My son was always a rough boy and played with boy toys, however, he is in his 8th year of ballet. Is he a boy? Absolutely! DO we think any less of him? Not a bit! We love him and are very proud of him.

 

[PghLybrt]

. Too bad we can't keep the kid's gender secret even after it's born!

Did you see the episode of Rick and Steve where the friends actually did keep the babies gender secret?

 

[Pirate Me]

My brother would plat with dolls when he was 2 years old. He's 5 now and forgot all about it. Now, he loves cars and even got into video games.
I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[MickeyCrazedMom]

My DS & DD are only 11 months apart, so they have always had both girl and boy toys. They have always played with both and DH is very supportive of that. Just recently, DS is starting to notice a difference. I don't know if he is learning from preschool or friends, but when he sees a "girl" toy in the store that he likes, he says we should get it...because his sis would like it! I caught him playing with barbie the other day, but he said he was looking under her dress for her pe..s! So I think we have moved to a whole new set of "girl" "boy" issues!

THe only time DH ever hesitated about gender issue is when my son wanted me to paint his nails bright pink when I was doing mine & DD. We made a compromise & just did his toes!

 

[pouncingpluto]

My mom always insisted on buying us toys of the other gender, even if we weren't particularly interested in them. I still remember getting a Smurf football. I liked it, actually, but, uh... it didn't exactly turn me into a football fan.

 

[mrsv98]

This subject has always interested me so much so that I did my Master's research on it.

After studying primary school children in various grades, I found that chidren who were very biased toward "boy" toys or "girl" toys performed worse academically than children who played with all kinds of toys regardless of the "gender" of the toy.

We have always encouraged DD to play with all sorts of toys. One of our favorite memories is of the Christmas when she was 3 and we gave her a doll house. She promptly took the dolls out and moved in her dinosaurs!

 

[pouncingpluto]

This subject has always interested me so much so that I did my Master's research on it.

After studying primary school children in various grades, I found that chidren who were very biased toward "boy" toys or "girl" toys performed worse academically than children who played with all kinds of toys regardless of the "gender" of the toy.

We have always encouraged DD to play with all sorts of toys. One of our favorite memories is of the Christmas when she was 3 and we gave her a doll house. She promptly took the dolls out and moved in her dinosaurs!

But don't you think it could be that parents who tend to encourage their children to play with all sorts of toys also tend to be more "enlightened" in other ways, including the importance of education? And that parents who are the most upset about their little boys playing with dolls tend to be less "englightened" in those ways?

So... correlation rather than causation? Of course, maybe that was your angle.

 

[jellymoon]

.

 

[mrsv98]

But don't you think it could be that parents who tend to encourage their children to play with all sorts of toys also tend to be more "enlightened" in other ways, including the importance of education? And that parents who are the most upset about their little boys playing with dolls tend to be less "englightened" in those ways?

So... correlation rather than causation? Of course, maybe that was your angle.

The population I used was pretty similar. It was a farming community with few white collar workers. Certainly there would be some variance among the community but by and large, it was pretty consistant.

My supervisor did the same study amongst secondary school pupils and found the same results to an even greater degree. Of course, with older children, the development of sexual awareness and peer pressure would play an even greater role in the predicliction toward one stereotype.

 

[Nikel]

I don't think there is any such thing as "girl" toys or "boy" toys.

Marketing would disagree with you. For example Tonka - "Built for Boyhood" Barbie - barbie.everythinggirl.com Etc.

Funny (or embarrassing) story - 2 years ago we decided to get a toy kitchen for our kids. Toys R Us was right by where I worked, so I looked there first. In my mind, that was an extremely gender neutral toy. I ended up asking for help finding them. I never thought to look next to the Barbies.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Since he has a 6 year old sister, my 2 year old DS can frequently be found wearing a feather boa, carrying 3 purses, and getting his eyebrows waxed and his makeup done (pretend) while holding a baby doll. He has a a train set, cars, trucks, etc. He plays with it all, but likes to do what his older sister is doing.

 

[Aidensmom]

I have a 6 year old little boy that has Barbies, a doll bed and baby dolls, and even a Tinkerbell purse, as well as a multitude of traditional "boy" interests....No, we don't find a problem with boys liking "girl" things or girls liking "boy" things. I find it kind of offensive that we as a society even attribute certain things to a certain gender. Are we not all equal human beings who can have whatever type of interest they want?

I do find it odd that it is more acceptable in society for a girl to have "boy" interests than for a boy to have "girl" interests.