Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Boys and Their Toys

My boys are still really young (ages 3 and 4) but they've already started grouping toys by gender. Around Christmas we'd be watching toy commercials and when advertisements for dolls or barbies would come on, I would say..."Do you want that for Christmas?" And they'd say: "No, that is for girls!" It's funny, because I never associate any type of toys based on gender. It must be that they picked this up from tv. It has to be tv, because when do you ever see boys in Barbie commercials or girls in Matchbox commercials? It almost isn't fair!

Some of you, may disagree with me (and that's ok), but I'm totally happy with my boys playing with dolls or tea sets. My degree is in Human Development and Family Studies. And in my schooling I took many child development classes. In class we learned that there are no negative outcomes with letting boys play with dolls or "girly" things. My mom, who I consider "old school", may disagree with that, thinking that my son will become overly feminine, but I totally disagree! In fact, it's just the opposite. Studies show that boys who play with dolls as a child, grow up to be a better nurturing and caring father!

My boys have dolls and a dollhouse, but for some reason they'd rather be playing with batman and typical "boy" things. I'm sure if I had only girl type toys they'd play with them, but they would probably turn a barbie doll into a gun or something like that. It's like they are programmed from the time they are born on how to be a boy. It's a weird thing that I've experienced watching them grow up.
When I was a little girl, I loved playing in the dirt and burying Matchbox cars with my brother. It's probably because my brother was the one closest in age to me. We are 8 or 9 years apart.
And to this day if I had to choose between Barbies or Matchbox cars, I'd chose the cars. Barbie is too much of a pain to accessorize!

Did you play with toys that matched your gender? What were your favorites?

And woohooo this is my 100th post! I may need to have a giveaway, but I'll wait until my 150th post for that! Have a great day!

3 comments:

  1. RA, what a great post! I'm completely sitting here with a permanent grin thinking of memories. I was a total tomboy and a total girl - completely well rounded and both my girls are the same as me. As we grew older, we became more "girlY'. I have 2 nephews .. 4 and 5 .. my sister lets them play with everything too but they are also most likely to turn the barbie into a gun or knife LOLOL.

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  2. I'm with Loria, growing up tomboy but total girl too! Lexi is the same way. She can play football just as hard as the boys her age but can dress up, put on makeup and wear heels and be a giggling girly girl.

    Hope you are having a great evening.♥

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  3. I wore dresses when I was a little girl, but I enjoyed climbing trees and building stuff in the backyard. My Mom didn't really like having toys in the house, so we seriously didn't have anything that had small parts or more than one piece to it LOL

    I guess I would say that I was more girl like, than boy, until I got to be about 10 and then I shunned all girl things lol

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