A few days ago from my vantage point on the sofa I glanced over to the mass accumulation of Daisy’s toys and noticed that there was an awful lot of pink staring back at me, I’m not by any means saying that’s a bad thing but it got me to thinking have I inadvertently discriminated when it comes to toys for my little girl.
I’m one of those people who roll my eyes when a company brings out the same toy in pink and blue or I hear that someone’s husband won’t let their little boy play with a doll and pram so I got to thinking about how the pink toy explosion happened.
Have I purposely picked up pink versions of things when out shopping or is a sub-conscious automatic response, I know the latter is the case with the potty as I don’t even remember thinking about it !
I’m very aware that I’m not a girly girl, I like pretty things and sparkle to look at but it’s just never suited who I am so have I tried to steer Daisy down the girly path without being aware of it ?
I think the answer to all of it is no, upon closer inspection most of the pink offenders weren’t bought by me, they were gifts, the pink toy trug was chosen because the only alternative was green and it looked like it belonged in the garden !
Both Daisy and Jake are free to choose whatever they want to play with, if Daisy asks for a tool set and Jake asks for a doll for Christmas then that’s okay just like it’s okay for Daisy to decide to wear pink every day for the rest of her life and for Jake to be a petrol head, I suppose what I’m trying to say is in our house anything goes when it comes to playing or children being who they want to be.
What do you think about gender neutral toys ? Do you think girls should be girls and vice versa ? or are you like me and just let your kids choose ?
Angela x
I always find this an incredibly interesting subject. And a difficult one as gender stereotypes are so rooted in our culture that pink or blue toys are kind of the tip of the iceburg really. We try not to enforce any stereotypes on Monkey, and yet he loves traditionally boy things like playing with cars and trains, though he does also love his snuggly bunny and pushing postman pat around in a pushchair. I have written a lot more about this here if you fancy a read, and I do wonder how my thoughts will change when we have our little girl, as we have already started receiving a few pink gifts for her and she's not even due for a few more months!! xx #mmwbh
I've just read your post Caroline, it's really interesting and I agree with what you said, it's so hard to find a middle ground isn't it, good luck with the arrival of your little girl 🙂
So many dogma that the society wants us to follow. Hopefully in the future all this will be gone and children will have more freedom and will not be caged by their gender =) #mmwbh
Interesting blog post. I have two boys and it seems the leaning is toward more boy things. Like playmobil or Lego or cars. But my eldest also like crafts and home imaginative play. But a lot of these things are packaged as pink. And he now since going to preschool associates overly pink things to being for girls. Therefore he walks past. And looks at the "boy" things. #mmwbh
Totally agree with you !
It's a tough one isn't it, I think all we can do is show a good example and let kids play with what they want to regardless.