As I was cleaning my son's room today I thought to myself... I feel like I am going to scream if he receives one more toy car or toy/nerf gun. Both of which he doesn't usually play with.
What gender stereotype toys are you sick of that your children constantly receive?
@ Rachel D. I totally agree!! My son has a doll that you can feed and he loves it. When his dad found out he fell apart and accused me of "making him gay"! Geez...they have to learn to be daddies, nothing wrong with it. :-)
WOW I loved hearing all the responses!! Glad to hear from everyone :-)
Anything with a "diva", "princess", "spoiled", or similar motif. I think it's a terrible message to send to a girl.
I'm so sick of guns, swords and all manner of weapons. I ban all blatently military toys (GI Joe for example), do everything I can to not let my boys wear camoflauge either.
Nothing against the military, I have lots of family in various branches. But war is NOT a GAME and not something I want in my house.
But because I have 2 boys they're somehow supposed to have it.
Honestly, both of my kids are very gender specific. I was open-minded and thought our son could have dolls if he wanted when he was younger. Nope. Our daughter wants little to do with stereotypical boy things. What can you do?
The gifts that irritate me are ones that are messy, complicated (or one that's a combo of both our daughter received -- where you have to make figurines out of powder and water, bake those, then paint ... UGH!) or have horrible packaging.
I ditto CAwriterMom.
My kids like what they like.
Gender related or not.
I have a boy and girl... and they both play with anything and we let them.
They know who they are.
They are individuals.
I don't think your son is getting cars and nerf guns because of gender stereotypes, it is because those are the things many many little boys do love to play with! That is all the boys around here want to play with! If your son does not like the usual toys boys like and you want something else mention what kinds of things he likes to your friends before they buy the gifts. Just say he really loves legos, or playing house, or whatever it is he loves. My boys love nerf and cars, but they also love their toy kitchen and littlest pet shop toys :)
Am I the only one who has family and friends that asks what the kids want?
O well....
I am the one who hates Barbie dolls so I lie and say my daughters don't like them. :-/
I don't like my six year old receiving lip gloss or other glittery makeup. She's six. And what toys does she like? Dinosaurs and knights, and my 15 month old little girl loves cars and trucks. Fortunately, my family gets it.
However, for all the moms who want dolls for their boys...check at places like Target/Walmart/Shopko or specialty toy shops. I have found several dolls that were actually BOYS. Dressed in boy clothes. :)
Both my sons (12 & 2) had a doll. It was from fisher price and was a soft boy doll with a frog in one hand and a insect catcher in the other. When you squeezed it, either the frog croaked of the doll laughed. Both my boys carried it everywhere! The voice box doesn't work any more and I wish i could find another one as the 2 year old loves it.
Makeup for little girls, Barbies and all the little tiny accessories that go with them. Also the slutty grown up hoochie mama type clothes they have for little tiny girls now - just wrong - nothing with writing across the butt. Did you all know they make thong underwear for 6 year olds?
For boys, we already have 2 toolboxes full for play tools, so I just don't need any more. I am against toy guns, I am not against REAL guns, once they are big enough to learn to use them responsibly. I grew up target shooting, and my husband shoots trap and is a hunter, so guns are REAL to us and should NEVER be a toy. The ability to point a toy gun at someone and shoot them and have nothing happen is not the reality of having real guns. Like someone else said, WAR and SHOOTING and killing are NOT a GAME. And yes, the lack of a decent boy doll to play daddy with is frustrating.
I did find this website with some boy dolls and clothes for them.
http://www.sew-dolling.com/boys_dept.htm
Amazon has a few too:
http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-Baby-Alive-Wets-Wiggles/dp/B...
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3...
There is also a plain light blue baby doll stroller on there. And a boy girls set of twin newborns on there too, for only $20 for 2 babies.
Here are some blue doll toys with Pooh on them - playpen and carseat carrier http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Winnie-Pretend-Playpen-Carri...
Here is plain red and black set: http://www.amazon.com/Tolltytots-Graco-Playset-Heatwave-R...
Here is the rainforest theme doll playset:
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-price-All--Doll-Travel-Syste...
Drives me nuts that they make separate "girl" pink versions of so many toys that would have been fine in non-pink!
Someone noted having trouble finding a non-pink doll. I looked and looked to find ONE doll without pink on it to give my sons. I didn't care so much, but we do cater to what our families will think:) Never did find inexpensive dolls without a little pink, but decided to go for it anyway:)
Also, we have so many balls - footballs, baseballs, every kind! We can only play with so many.
My two boys are always getting cars, trucks, planes, etc. but they absolutely love them and do play with them more than any other toys they have. However, I do have a baby doll from when I was little, it's actually a baby boy cabbage patch kid and they like to play with it. Every once in awhile I'll see one of them go over, hold it and pretend to give it a baby bottle and then put it down for a nap, it's the sweetest thing. Neither my husband or I think there's anything wrong with it, I like that it shows they are trying to take care of something.
Personally both of my kids (boy and girl) LOVES nerf. Also both LOVE Barbies too. They play well together thus both loving eachother Gender stereotype toys. Both play with the doll house and both with Tonkas.
We typically do not do birthday parties for the kids (we do something for them just not parties). But when we go to another childs bday I will admit I give stereotype gifts b/c most of the time I do not know what the child likes to play with.
Not a fan of guns either. My son got a nerf gun once fr his birthday about 4 years ago and he's never touched it!
i love all the little girly toys. they are so cute and fun. I imagine though, if i had a boy that the toy gun would be very annoying.
dolls My daughter has ten of them and she barely plays with one, she loves animals and cars but people still get her dollies saying shes a girl she has to have babies UH NO SHE DOES NOT. I let my kids play with what they want and she loves electronics and cars and animals she doesnt have to be a lil miss priss she can be anything she wants
My oldest wanted a stroller, baby carrier and crib so he could play house. Not only could I not find a gender neutral...it was all SO girly. He took alot of heat for wanting it from the whole family. I was the only one who thought it was ok for him to play daddy.
He loves playing with barbies too. All of which we allow him to do.
My youngest has always pretended to nurse his baby doll. He also has a baby Ergo baby pack.....so that he can WEAR his dolly just like mama wears him....
It makes me mad that it is not ''PC'' for little boys to play with dolls and pretend house. My kiddos have taken alot of heat over their years of kid-hood because of this. I refuse to select only gender appropriate play for my kids. I think they should be able to play what or how ever they choose.
I am with you...I have two toy boxes full of Hot wheels, and or other types of cars. I have three totes for the imaginex stuff....that they will play with alot of the time...but is still a pain the the butt .
cars...little tiny matchbox cars...my son has not had any interest in them at all. Yet, we have them....in abundance, for what purpose i have no idea except that little boys are supposed to play with cars.
Alex loves to color, he can spend hours coloring. He still very much LOVES his stuffed animals, and he has some figurine type toys he likes ( Wonder Pets)
He likes blocks and play dough and his sand box.
I realize that my son is not typical, but we love him to bits and would not trade him for the world.
My daughter 10 is a girly girl and loves all things girly...baby dolls, Littlest Pet Shop, Barbies...but she hates make up, and I am with her...why would a 10 year old need to wear it anyway? SO why do they make make up that is geared to little girls??? Drives me crazy...
People were constantly giving my daughter pink stuff when she was growing up, and she hated pink.
For girls - Anything super pink that doesn't need to be and anything with the Disney princesses. For my daughter's first birthday, she received a pink ride-on toy. Her brother has a million of them that would have sufficed for her, but I guess people thought she needed a pink one because she's a girl.
For boys - I don't love guns or anything with superheroes on them. My friends know this about me, so they don't give them to him, thankfully. I get that they are fun, and he enjoys them when we're at other people's houses, but I just don't want them in my home.
I think to a certain degree, boys should be boys and girls should be girls. The bible lays out the role of a man and woman in a marriage, and that starts with children. However, sometimes we place far too many pressures on kids to live up to gender roles when they are JUST KIDS! After all, little boys do grow up to be Daddies, right? Why should they not be taught with a baby doll? My four-year-old daughter loves 'boy' toys like cars, nerf guns, etc. IMO, 'boy' toys are more fun! I let my daughters play with whatever THEY want to play with.
To answer your question, purses. Seriously, my little girls have like a dozen purses each, and neither of them are interested.
My daughter BARBIES! She freakin hates them. Closest thing she plays with is her Monster High Dolls. She doesn't want an American Girl doll and she doesn't want Barbies! They go straight to the consignment sale. Waste of money.
My older son the stupid RC cars, Nerf guns too! He doesn't touch any of them. Another waste of money that goes straight to consignment sale. When I say all he likes is legos and erector I mean it!
With my baby just because he was born early and had heart surgery at 9 months doesn't mean he's behind developmentally. Actually he's ahead so getting a 20 month old things for a year old baby is stupid. He isn't even interested. He's mentally on the level of over 2 so why oh why does he need infant toys? Guess it shows how much they bother to know him.
I am of the rule that every boy should have a doll and every girl a car. It's not like your putting your son in a dress and making him wear make up. I have seen little boys who play dress up and put on girls heels or dress, so what. I don't have a problem with a little girl wearing a firemans costumes, which people assume to be more male. I love to see a little boy or little girl use their imagination and be who ever they want to be.
My now 23 year old son played Barbie's with his sister when he was about 6 or 7. To be fair, I will say that he drove Ken around in the convertible with the plastic dog riding high in the passenger seat, while Barbie was upside down in the trunk. :)
