Gender-Bending Toys?

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The gender role thing is so outdated and past its sell by date that its hardly worth mentioning and i knew a little lad who loved a plastic shopping trolley and he took it everywhere with him.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!

________

CLOUDY TRICHOMES

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.

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.

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.