K-mart's Toybook (Most Recent One)...

I personally think labeling gives a wrong message to the children. Dads cook and uses the kitchen or take care of babies, while moms go out and work in a construction type of work or vise versa. Toys are toys.

No, trust me, you're not the only one who gets annoyed by that. Every time I'd go to a McD's or other fast food spot and they'd say 'boy' or 'girl' when asking which toy to put in it. I'd name the toy, not boy or girl. What I also noticed is 'boy' toys were action packed -cars, things that DO stuff. The 'girl' toys had a Barbie to snap an outfit on, or hair to comb. ARGHHH! I wanted my daughter to be just as active as her brothers. See...don't get me started. :)

I agree. When my son wanted a toy kitchen I had to look around to find one that was not all pink. My son loves polly pocket and littlest pet shop, and even in the stores those rows are decorated in pink, like boys don't like animals!? It really is silly in today's world to keep pushing these gender stereo types on our children.

I agree, My boys like Dora and Ni Ho Kilan but every thing is pink and purple.
My son LOVES playing in his kitchen.

I think it is garbage Boy toys vs girl toys a toy is a toy!!!

I am grateful that no one in my family differentiates between boy/girl toys. My son (3) who loves balls and sports and trucks also has no qualms about wearing his sister's purple princess bike helmet and using her pink butterfly booster seat. They also play house together. So it is the parents and support system that are the influence- not the stores/advertisements. But I do think the industry has responded as there are a lot more "neutral" colors out there. My guess is that they categorize to make it easier for people to shop-like maybe grandparents or other relatives. I like it when they group things by age, especially before I had kids.
I think "angry" is a strong word- you could send an email and maybe enlighten someone, but in the end know that you are teaching your children to explore and be open and that everything doesn't need to fit in a single compartment- and that’s what counts.

We have two girls and no boys, except Daddy who is one big boy! :)
Our girls love Kia-lan and Dora, but also Handy Manny and Diego. We don't go out of our way to purchase pink and purple or not. They have a kitchen, but I bought it with the thought that at some point they will outgrow it and we will want to sell or donate it so something gender neutral would be great. We ended up with a HUGE one from Step 2 that is beige, brownish burgundy and dk. green. We got them a table to match. They love it and so do the cousins- boys and girls! One of the reviews that I read that convinced me to get it was that one womans son even plays with it at 11 yrs old. although instead of a kitchen he used it for condos for his star wars characters.
I saw a father tell his daughter that she needed to pick a different bicycle becasue the one she liked was a boys bike. It was red, but was built for a girl with the angled bar at the crotch instead of the straight one (that also hurts boys if they fall onto it).
I was bothered by people when we went out and people would exclaim,"Oh! Twins! A boy and a girl?" No, they are both dressed in flowers and ribbons and have bows in their hair! Cant you see? or are social cues lost on you? I dressed them that way because one of the girls hair had fallen out and the other had tons of platinum curls and got all the attention.

I haven't been to a kmart in years, however I would have also been appalled to see this as well!!! It is ridiculous to label toys like this!!!! Makes me angry just thinking about it. Have you considered writing kmart headquarters about it? Do all kmart stores really do this?? yikes!! When are we going to move beyond such ridiculousness!?!!??!!

You are absolutely right.

I personally don't buy the pink/super girly stuff because we have boys visit sometimes and they like to play with our toys.
I have now had two dads get mad at me for allowing their sons to play with babydolls and house things. We are talking about a 3 and 5 year old.
The one really believes girl toys will turn his son feminine or gay, which is insane to me. They don't let their boys come over anymore.

Sorry, but some girls love girly things and boys only like boy things.. I remember John Stossel doing a show on how he was so upset by this same issue.. Years later he admitted he and his wife on purpose had always had neutral toys and with no "Violent toys" ever..

Baby dolls dressed as boys and girls wearing overalls.. etc.. His boys would not touch them.. "said they were for girls"..

Even though they had never been exposed to "violent". And one night at dinner his son held up a piece of bread shaped like a gun and said, pow, pow, your dead.. To his dad.. The legos became guns, forts and great battles were held..

He said he realized that some kids just somehow are drawn to these traditional behaviors..

That being said, I think toys could be made to look more real life and allow some dads to feel more comfortable for their son to be in a kitchen feeding their baby boy, just like dad does... But the majority of toy makers sell what the consumers (children) like..

We gave our daughter active and imaginative toys whenever possible, but her love of Barbie, and her fantastical Fashion shows.. were also awesome..

I don't think that they should be "labeled" but at the same time if one of the "girl toys" is something you think a boy would like, then my all means buy if for them. The thing is, with a lot of the toys made "for girls" they have made them pink or frilly.

It's just marketing. If you go for more natural, wooden toys, they are gender-neutral. Look at Magic Cabin catalog, for example. I was fighting this fight in the 60's and 70's when my 4 daughters were young, and it's still going on.

I agree it is very annoying.

Well, to be honest, until science finds a way to make it possible for the MAN to have the babies, and the girl to be physically bigger/stronger than the MAN, toy manufacturers will be reminding us who's sopposed to be playing with which toy, on account of clearly we're too STUPID to know the difference!
BAHAHAHA!
Have a fabulous weekend!

It doesn't really bother me, but I don't get worked up about that kind of stuff. It is more about making things easier for the gift-giver, not trying to label a child. I know before I had children, I eagerly looked for gift-giving guides that helped to tell me what my non-local niece or nephew might like. It is just effective marketing.

This is no different than walking into Wal-Mart or Target and having the toy isles separated by dolls and trucks. I have 3 boys and personally I am glad the isles are separated this way and toy catalogs. I always skip the pink and girly and go to the boy toys because thats what my boys play with. I have no problem when my little one is at daycare playing with a doll with friends but for the most part they want to play with trucks and cars at home. This is the same when we have friends that are girls over. The girls like to set up the train tracks and play with my boys but when we are at their house it is all girly toys.
So I guess I can see how you could be angry but I don't see much of a problem with it.