Girl toys vs Boy toys

Cyn610

I just read BritishBrides post about the kitchen and it got me thinking...

When your child ask you for a toy, do you differentiate between girl toys vs boy toys? How do you explain this to your child?

I always asked for the boy toy in my McDonald's happy meal (they were always way cooler), so I think I would be super okay with buying DD a Hot Wheels set if that's what she wanted, but somehow a boy playing with Barbie's would make me re-think if maybe I should explain boys and girl toys. I definitely DO NOT think him playing with Barbie dolls will make him gay and I wouldn't care if he turned out to be. I'm just wondering if there is any importance to explaining these things to kids.

WDYD?

GenaAndJosh

Most of our toys for Spencer are pretty gender neutral. We have lots of animals, etc.  However, he also has stuff animals.  I'm sure at the sitter's house he plays with dolls.  Kids like what kids like.  I don't know if I would go out and specifically buy him a Barbie, but if he had one, I would just go with the flow. 

With all the other problems going on in the world, the gender of a toy is preferred by is probably going to be the least of your worries!

Cyn610

GenaAndJosh:

With all the other problems going on in the world, the gender of a toy is preferred by is probably going to be the least of your worries!

I know you are right about that! I can't even watch tv anymore without feeling like I'm totally insane for bringing a child into this world. Being that it's the holidays though, this has been on my brain and I'm not sure what I'd do without falling into that double-standard I just mentioned above.

 

cocojack10

I agree with Gena.  If the toy is there, and they are enjoying playing w/ it, I'm not going to take it away, but highly doubt I'd buy, for example, Barbie for a son.  Something about that is just not right.

FSUSammy

From what I've seen with Mikey and his friends at daycare at his age at least you'll see boys playing in the play kitchens and playing with babies and the girls playing with dinosaurs and cars. My DH at first wasn't into the idea of getting Mikey a play kitchen for Xmas but I told him he really likes playing pretend so he agreed to it. If he wanted a baby doll I'd try to find the most gender neutral baby I could find.

GenaAndJosh

FSUSammy:

From what I've seen with Mikey and his friends at daycare at his age at least you'll see boys playing in the play kitchens and playing with babies and the girls playing with dinosaurs and cars. My DH at first wasn't into the idea of getting Mikey a play kitchen for Xmas but I told him he really likes playing pretend so he agreed to it. If he wanted a baby doll I'd try to find the most gender neutral baby I could find.

If we had the room for a play kitchen, Spencer would have one.  He loves the one at the sitter's house!

melly&jimmy

Great discussion...My Chelsea actually prefers to play with her big brother's toys!  Having said that - I do explain to Eli the difference between boy and girl toys so I won't be buying him any dolls or barbies (ever).  AND I try to explain to C (as much as you can to a 1 year old) that the batman and ninja turtle toys are Eli's.  But I don't stress over it until E takes issue with his little sister touching his things, and vice versa.

Eli does love to play with the kitchen at school and helps me in the kitchen...so I know he'll enjoy C's new kitchen come Christmas Day.  He does like to play with some of C's toys - her little people, doll house, and dora -- but he's playing with her.  It's very sweet!  But - like many others - I'll let them play with each other's toys - I just won't go out and buy C a car or E a doll. 

MrsLeanna

I've never been a "girly" girl myself and I don't plan on doing it to alexis either.  I want her to be into sports and building, etc, not just babies and barbies.  She has blocks and lots of balls - soccer, football.  I think it's important to just introduce them to everything and then let them figure it out on their own.  Kitchens in my opinion are not a girls toy at all - lots of the best chefs in the world are men.  I would not explain something like this to kids.  As for them gay by playing with barbies - my belief is that no one can choose to be gay or can be "turned" gay - we are born who we are. As kids get older they will naturally gravitate to the gender stereotypical toys for them.  

melly&jimmy

MrsLeanna:

 Kitchens in my opinion are not a girls toy at all - lots of the best chefs in the world are men.  I would not explain something like this to kids.  As for them gay by playing with barbies - my belief is that no one can choose to be gay or can be "turned" gay - we are born who we are. As kids get older they will naturally gravitate to the gender stereotypical toys for them.  

Yeah - I don't believe that whole "gay by playing..." either.  Nor do I think kitchens are for girls only either...It doesn't bother me one way or another...I love seeing my kids play together whether they're both racing cars or playing house! And like you - I can't WAIT till C is old enough to get into sports...she's been watching E play T-Ball for the past couple of months and shows a lot of interest in playing.  We have E's old Fisher Price t-ball set in the yard and it's the first thing she runs to when we let her loose!  I'm not a girly-girl either -- and unless its a special occassion - you will usually find C in jeans and Converses as opposed to dresses and bows!

karenlisa714

My husband and his sister were only 16 months or so apart so they played with each others toys all the time. We definitely want to get Zachary a play kitchen at some point and I have no problems with him having a cabbage patch doll or something. My husband and his sister both had cabbage patches.

southmiamiwifejen

karenlisa714:

My husband and his sister were only 16 months or so apart so they played with each others toys all the time. We definitely want to get Zachary a play kitchen at some point and I have no problems with him having a cabbage patch doll or something. My husband and his sister both had cabbage patches.

Same exact thing with my brother and I. He got boy toys and I got girl toys, but we always shared. We played Barbies and Ninja Turtles together...they were boyfriend and girlfriend and there would be "girly" activities (like they would go out on a date or do a fashion show) followed by something boyish, like a fight against some bad guys LOL.  I don't know that I would go out of my way to buy my son a Barbie (if he really wanted a doll, I would try to get something a bit more gender neutral), but if he ended up playing with his sister or another little girl's girly toys, it wouldn't bother me. Same with Emma playing with boyish toys. And I see the play kitchen as pretty neutral...obviously not the ones that are pink and flowery, but I've seen a lot of neutral ones and the fact that it involves cooking doesn't make it a "girl toy" to me.

karenlisa714

I personally feel that as parents we overthink all of these things way too much. I think kids grow up and figure out their gender roles by living in our society and seeing how grown-ups act. I'm guessing that it's very probable that they don't need as much assistance from us as we imagine they do when we sit here and think about it in our message board. LOL.