Gender Toys

[Vickie]

I have one of each so we have "boys" and "girls" toys galore and both kids play with both. For each kid I tend to try to buy what that child is interested in. DS is mostly interested in Batman, Cars (and hot wheels), and Thomas. And DD is mostly interested in arts & crafts and Frozen.

 

[motherofboys]

My boys do 'boys' sports, although one of their instructors in judo and karate is a woman. I have actually heard a little girl ask her mum at one of the displays if she could join the karate and her mum said "no, we'll find a girls sport for you. Like dancing"
I think my 4 year old would be great at gymnastics or dance, but with the older ones doing so much and only one of us driving it's not practical to get him to those so he will most likely follow his brothers into judo, karate and football unless we move closer to a gymnastics club that I can get him to without a car. Again it's not something we are against.

 

[Button#]

My little boy has a pink pushchair (the blue one was £20 compared to £3.50!) because he and all the other little boys used to squabble over the pushchairs at playgroup. He sleeps with two long haired dollies because he used to pull my hair for comfort and he also plays with them when he's in his room. He has a kitchen and I was going to get him a dollhouse but I decided to save a big item to buy for number 2 or they'll be stuck with little presents as I'll run out of room! He is absolutely obsessed with thomas at the moment so he's getting a lot of trains for Christmas this year.

 

[Button#]

Oh and he also does yoga!

 

[BabyHill]

Same. Ds is very into cars, trucks and trains and I bought him a doll before dd was born to give him fair warning lol that he tossed to one side and hasn't looked at since. But he did go through a stage where he'd be obsessed with my necklaces so I indulged him (supervised obv). He showed an interest in dolls houses so I bought him a wooden one I could paint more neutral (he doesn't seem to like pink at all) and its hilarious as it houses all his toy cars and theres usually a shout of 'go away man' and his ambulance men poking through windows.

Hes typically into boys toys mostly but I honestly believe whatever catches their imagination or interest should be encouraged so I don't rule out anything based on gender stereotypes.

 

[Bex84]

I buy my children what they like. My daughter is into dolls but she also loves dinosaurs. My son as he grows up I'm fine with getting whatever. I don't want to limit them

 

[AngelofTroy]

Micah's getting a mix of all sorts for Christmas, I wouldn't rule out a toy because it's seen as 'girly', (I don't see baby dolls or kitchens as girly anyway!) he's getting a kitchen as his main present, wooden food, a playmobil camping set, batman duplo, little toy cars, a multicoloured parrot costume! but I probably wouldn't buy a Barbie/My little pony for him unless he specifically asked.. Actually if he'd been really taken with one at a playgroup or something I probably would. My brother and I played really imaginative games with barbies.

 

[Marie000]

Since she was little, I've tried to get my girl interested in all sorts of toys. To be honest, I pushed her a little towards neutral and "boys" toys because I figured there will be enough people pushing her towards girls stuff. That, and I really don't like princess stuff.

But now I go by what she is interested in. She loves cars and dinosaurs but also plays with dolls.
Luckily toys for her age can still be gender neutral. She will be getting a lot of playmobil 123 for Christmas, and I haven't seen any "gendered" ones. I worry more about when she gets older... things seem to get more and more gender specific when kids get older. I mean, you can find neutral duplos, but it's really hard to find gender neutral legos.

 

[jd83]

Haven't read all the responses, but I buy the boys what toys they want to play with. If they are girl toys, I try to find more gender neutral colors of them, but the being a "girl" toy doesn't deter me if its something they love to play with. Last year they got a shopping cart and play food.

My DH is more of a boy toy only person, and we argue about this. He usually gives in as long as they are gender neutral, but I know he wouldn't allow dolls. They play with them at the sitter's house though, so I don't know what the big deal is. I think playing with all sorts of toys helps them be more well rounded, and there are different life skills they learn from different types of toys. I don't see why anyone would want to hinder that, just based on the color a toy is offered in and the fact that its generally marketed to one gender or the other. I buy based on their interests, not the boy/girl row it happens to be found in at the store.

 

[jd83]

I have one of each so we have "boys" and "girls" toys galore and both kids play with both. For each kid I tend to try to buy what that child is interested in. DS is mostly interested in Batman, Cars (and hot wheels), and Thomas. And DD is mostly interested in arts & crafts and Frozen.

I've always tried to use this argument with DH, that if we had one of each, they'd both play with each others toys anyways so why is it different to not allow them with two boys.

 

[monkee12]

See that's the problem my husband has, he thinks girls should play with dolls and boys cars..although he doesn't stop ours playing with each other's toys, he would flip if I bought ds a doll, or anything that is considered 'girly'

 

[NotNic]

I prefer to buy 'realistic' colours - so I would buy the item, say a police car which was in the traditional white / yellow. I get annoyed that a toy set is blue or pink when really there isn't a need to gender brand it with colours. My son loves to cook, has a Hoover, broom set, tea set etc. He plays in the toy kitchen at nursery and likes pushing his cousin's pink pram. I don't have any issue with it. That said, he does have a natural lean towards toys which are more traditionally boys - trains, cars etc.

I don't have a problem with him wearing 'girly' colours. He wears pinks, corals, lemons etc. He has fab colouring for pastels and brights (a spring / summer colour skin tone) and he also has girls clothes. The cut of girls jeans fits him better, he wears unisex tops and has a duffle coat that's a girls coat - but looks neutral to me. DS2 is a newborn but he has girls cardis, all in ones and boots. They aren't pink though.

 

[meldmac]

I think gender stereotypes are silly. I have no problems buying Colin whatever toy he is interested in whether it's marketed to a boy or a girl. However, hubby on the other hand has a fit if I bring anything pink home for him My MIL bought Colin a bouncer thing when he was a baby and it was pink and hubby was constantly grumbling about it, so much so we teased him all the time about it.