I just bought my three year old daughter a train set. She has the usual dolls and things that girls have but she adores her train and her box of toy cars.
When he was about 6 my son wanted a dolls house and I tried to get him one but they were either way too expensive or too crappily built so he had to make do with a Ghost busters fire station. He didnt play with it as a girl would with a little house, instead he had it attacked by his dinosaurs and things, and my daughter plays girly games with her "Boys" toys.

I heared from my exes father once that giving kids toys that should belong to kids of the opposite sex is extremely bad for them because it blurs their concept of "sexual roles."

Crud, of course, but what do you think? CAN it harm a kid? Do your kids play with so - called "Inappropriate" toys ?
Aparrantly a lot of people think the same way as my exes father in law, is there anything in it?

my parents stopped hugging my brother (and me, for that matter) when he was about 4 because they were under the impression that it would make him gay.

i like hugging very much fully intend to hug my 3 month old daughter as often as possible.

anyway, what do i think about gender bending toys? there's nothing wrong with a boy learning about the same things as girls do by playing with dolls - it's learning about caring, social interaction (with other children and in whatever situation they put their dolls in), social order, responsibility etc etc and uses their imagination (and they're not watching the tv). if your son wants to play with girls' toys, it's probably good for his emotional development to let him do so. by the same token, playing with soldiers or cowboys etc isn't going to make him grow up with a thing for handguns. besides, even if girls' toys did influence your kid, what is worse - not letting them play with girls' toys, and they grow up in the closet, or letting them play with them and them growing up outed?

Agreed.
The gender role thing is so outdated and past its sell by date that its hardly worth mentioning and i knew a little lad who loved a plastic shopping trolley and he took it everywhere with him.
Ok so hes now a shopaholic in deep debt so I suppose thats not a good anology, but whe i was a kid i had tons of war toys and im not obsessed with war and killing.

my son loved to play with plastic swords and guns, much to my sisters disgust, her daughter wasn't allowed any violent toys at all and my sister prefered to get her girlie or artistic toys, she spent fortune on a whopping great box of stickle bricks, only for my neice to make a machine gun and 'shoot' all her 'babies'.

sexist toys are a load of balony, if the kids happy, what the hell does it matter!

I heared from my exes father once that giving kids toys that should belong to kids of the opposite sex is extremely bad for them because it blurs their concept of "sexual roles."



What's this mean exactly? That kids who play with non-stereotypical toys won't grow up with the notion that a woman's place is in the home and a man's place is out working or fighting a war somewhere? Sounds good to me! My niece has endless girly toys, including several dolls, prams, a kitchen, a hoover (and no doubt an iron and board soon enough). Why do we insist on teaching girls from a young age how to do housework when most people wouldn't think of buying boys the same kind of toys? Maybe if a child had a mixture of toys to play with they won't have such rigid ideas on gender roles. There's increasing evidence that sexuality is genetic, so what toys they play with will have little or no effect there.

Personally I had all the girly toys when I was little and thought they were as boring as hell. I always wanted the boys toys as they were much more interesting. My parents finally gave up and bought me a scalextrix - I was 18 by the time I got it, but it hasn't gone to waste!

He was old fashioned and had old fashioned "Values" for want of a better word.
He assumed that any kid playing with toys of the opposite sex was going to grow up wierd or something.
I never played with girls toys but i still managed to grow up wierd.:D

My little brother wanted a toy hoover for his 4th birthday and my auntie refused to buy it for him. She gave my mum the money for it, but would not buy him a 'girls' toy. Strange lady.

He was old fashioned and had old fashioned "Values" for want of a better word.
He assumed that any kid playing with toys of the opposite sex was going to grow up wierd or something.
I never played with girls toys but i still managed to grow up wierd.:D

i used to play with transformers. i still haven't mastered turning myself into a car called beachcomber.

i used to play with transformers. i still haven't mastered turning myself into a car called beachcomber.
I try daily but so far only managed to slip a couple of disks.

My godson is 2 and has just got a hoover that he loves to pieces and won't let go of. His father was abit reluctant to get it but he gave into pressure from his boy. He also has a bright pink buggy to push his toy doll about !

Ive got one of each and i can honestly say i will never stop my son from playing with her toys and the otherway round too,


How many dads like to show off there new baby by pushing the pram ??? LOADS !!!


It teaches the kids to grow up strong and understanding of how to be loving and that the worlds not black and white :)

I agree, forcing certain toys on kids isn;t good, personal choice is important. I get loads of kids at work who take the chances while they can to to play with toys stereotypically associated with the opposite sex. Fair enough some boys just want to look up Barbies skirt but some really enjoy the freeplay.
My cousin always wanted nail varnish on - just like his big sister but his Dad used to go mad. Well, his Mum, sister and other people used to put it on for him but take it off before his Dad got back. He grew up to be a sensitive but lovely lad. Another cousin was encouraged to play with real tools as a child rather than plastic ones and no dolls etc, he grew up deeply weird!
Having said that, my godson used to love his mini cooker and washer that I bought him for his 3rd birthday and spent hours washing his sisters dolls clothes - he's a terror now so it doesnt always matter - it's the parenting IMO.
Making a fuss about it just draws more attention to it and makes it even more desirable for some kids.

My neice hates all things 'girly' and is a real tom-boy. My nephew meanwhile loves anything to do with cooking and chose a toy mircrowave oven for christmas last year and played hours and hours with it.

Whenever they come over to us though, MrHels always asks my nephew if he wants to sit on the motorbike. He's not usually interested and I have to remind MrHels not to be so sexist as my neice sits there patiently waiting to be asked as she loves to sit on the bike.

BabyHels can play with whatever toys he wants - dolls, lego, drawing, cars etc but I draw the line at toy guns. I don't like them one bit.

My little boys have had cookers, hoovers, prams and babies. My 4 year old son's current favourite colour is pink, none of which is a problem. I must admit to drawing the line at buying a Barbie bike though as I know he won't be seen dead on it in a few months time!

I agree with Hels about guns, I have never bought my boys a gun but I found them 'shooting' each other recently - the 8 year old's gun was his crutch and the 4 year olds was my hair dryer!!! :rolleyes:

I went into town today and bought my little girl a toy car. She loves it. Theres no way would I stop any of my kids from playing with any toy that they likes simply because of the "Sex" of the toy.

My mother in law is bonkers about this. As soon as she knew it was a boy, that was it. No pink, not even lavender, was allowed near me if she had her way. So I went out of my way to find things that were lavender or had pink bunnies on them. And finally I said to her, If he's gay, I really don't care. I'll have a five minute grieving session about grandkids, and it's over. I just want him to be happy with his life.
Now he's mad about those pink baby buggies they sell at Mothercare. I told her I was going to get him one, and she never batted an eyelid. So either she's got over it, or she's realised what a stubborn little monster her daughter in law is, and that even if there are blue ones, I'll get a pink one just to be contrary.
It certainly can't hurt your children to get in as wide an experience of play as possible, no matter what gender those toys have been assigned. Besides, if he's going to be my slave in later life (from about the age of 5) he'll need to figure out pretty quick how to iron and work a washing machine, lol. :O)

I don't agree that children should be given 'gender appropriate' toys. I didn't have gender appropriate toys, and I have to admit that I think I'm a well rounded person. I'm eighteen years old, I played with more skateboards, Kens, and motorbikes than my baby brother does.
I'll admit that yes, I am more inclined to swing the 'other way' but what does that have to do with the toys I played with? I've been the way I am since before I can remember. If I ever have my own children they'll have everything they want, whether its for a boy, a girl, or an alien.
:)

Went to town today and bought my three year old girl a huge spider and a big bag of dinosaurs. She loves them. I wonder if theyre boy or girl toys? :D

Went to town today and bought my three year old girl a huge spider and a big bag of dinosaurs. She loves them. I wonder if theyre boy or girl toys? :D
I had dinosaurs! I love dinosaurs... I wanted to be an archeologist (if thats the right word) when I 'grew up' because of all my dinosaurs. Lol

I just got one of the many toy catalogues that come through my door in time for Christmas - rarely buy anything from them, but I love to spend ages flicking through them. This one is Letterbox, and it has the coolest toys in it! Pirate islands and pirate ships, castles and other fab stuff - never mind cosycub, it's Mummy who wants to play! One of the best things is a toy car garage, I had one when I was little for my Matchbox cars (I had a great collection, the envy of all my boy friends, lol) it has a working car lift, little petrol tanks with nozzles on strings, parking places, workable barriers that swing down and up, and corkscrew roads...I want, I want, I want!

If we had any money, cosycub would be soooo spoiled (though there's a possibility I'd be too busy playing with his toys to let him have a go...)

My baby boy is nine months old and my mums just finished making him a lovely little boy rag doll. Its the same size he was when he was born, so fits all his newborn clothes so he can dress it up lots. A few (male)friends laughed when i said he was getting a dolly, but i think its really important that he sees caring for a baby as a positive thing for a male to do- after all, he will probably be a daddy one day.

My daughter loves her girlie toys and wouldn't be without them but try and take the cars and dinosaurs away from her tea party and the screaming starts! Not that i'd take them away from her but my son does lol. Saying that he seems to love her skipping ropes and doesn't mind playing prams and he's nine.

Myself I still like shouting by the power of greyskull, he- man to the rescue haven't a clue if thats what he said but it sounds good and the kids think i'm nuts!