Dolls for boys and cars for girls

SirChenjin: From a very young age babies tend to see mums as the main carer in the home during the maternity leave, they'll see men driving the digger, trains and fire engines
So what's the problem with that? Maybe we should blindfold babies so they don't know what's going on in the world. Otherwise, they are going to see what is around them, although you seem to think this is somehow going to stop them choosing the toys they really want to play with.

We have got off the point in all of this Sir C.
It would take too long to debate knife crime.
All I know if that there were not deaths every day from knife crime when I was growing up.
I don’t know anything about entry requirements for fire fighters but I do know that that a very short woman can become a policewoman .

I had two boys and tried to be gender neutral but they were completely disinterested in anything traditionally thought of as girly. This was not due to external pressures or copying others.
Now I have two granddaughters and their parents were very determined to be gender neutral and they too are completely disinterested in traditional boyish pursuits.

JenniferEccles, the people who hold a knife and stab someone are responsible for knife crime. Anyone from about the age of 12 a) knows that it's illegal and b) knows how to stop their arm from thrusting the knife into someone. All this passing the buck back up the chain is just making people shirk responsibility for their own actions. Heck it might even be making some of them think they can't help it!

I , as a parent teacher and grandparent have never subscribed to gender specific toys and suggest that you do your part (as it seems you do) in challenging these stereotypes. I now buy toiletries for my grandchildren made by Sam farmer which completely fit the bill (for older children). There are alternatives out there you just have to hunt and to educate the next generation.

Yes Chestnut - of course we should blindfold babies

Lancslass it might be worthwhile checking to see what the entry requirements are for fire fighters before you make spurious claims about women in the service.

Sir C.
Well I have done a quick check and it would seem that I do have a point.

No one is saying there are no biological bases to gender differences, but there is definitely a "nurture" element in the culture we grow up in and how we are treated and taught which shape our personality and behaviour. There are numerous psychological studies which show this. The monkey study is so tiny and involved a few monkeys and has not been replicated so would not be considered significant scientific evidence. I was a tomboy and played on my bike and disliked dolls, what does that prove? I'm definitely female!

If your point is that both men and women have to pass the same fitness and entry tests and pass the same ongoing assessments once they’re in the service then yes, you do Lancs. No gender stereotyping on the part of the fire service.

I doubt Smyths will do anything, If you ask for a specific toy they will tell you it is in the 'boys aisle' or the 'girls aisle'

Do they insist their female sales assistants wear heels and makeup to look pretty for the male managers and customers?

Sir C,I had to smile when you shortened my pseudonym to Lancs.
I mean that.
Well done you.
Over and out.

I don't have time to respond to all the posts individually, but I believe that children are shaped by both nature and nurture. All of my own children were offered a range of toys and each played happily, some more than others, with toys that may often be thought of (by some) as more suited to the opposite gender.

Someone up-thread asked why I was buying a doll for a boy. And my answer would be, why not? The question was asked, How do I know that's what he'd like? Well I don't know, but that's no reason not to find out. Both my sons loved playing with their dolls and pushchairs, so I have assumed my grandson may like that too. In the same way I've just bought some lovely chunky wooden cars for my one year old granddaughter because I see that she enjoys playing with her cousin's cars.

Let me be clear; I am not saying that boys shouldn't or don't want to play with cars etc., or that girls shouldn't wear pink and play with dolls. What I am saying is that real un-gendered choice should be offered.

For people who are interested in the gender bias of toys there is a quite old research paper that looks at the subject here: www.researchgate.net/profile/Nancy_Freeman2/publication/225547072_Preschoolers%27_Perceptions_of_Gender_Appropriate_Toys_and_their_Parents%27_Beliefs_About_Genderized_Behaviors_Miscommunication_Mixed_Messages_or_Hidden_Truths/links/54623ccc0cf2837efdaff435.pdf

In defence of Smyths, approximately 7 years ago my daughter was asked by her friend if she would take my granddaughter to be photographed for Smyths catalogue. Several children were invited, both boys and girls. They were all dressed in the same outfits, and individually sent into a room with their Mum where there was a rocking horse waiting. As each child reacted to the toy they were photographed and my granddaughter was apparently the only one who toddled over to the horse, sat astride and rocked. She was then in the catalogue. So it wasn’t chosen on gender, it was chosen on which child took an interest in the toy!

I don’t think they’re particularly enlightened - here’s the results of the search for ‘action figures and play sets’. Do you notice anything about the children on the first few pages? (I couldn’t be bothered scrolling any further) www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/action-figures-and-playsets/c/SM060101

Meanwhile, over on ‘fashion and dolls’

Hot return too soon there

www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/fashion-and-dolls/c/SM060104

I went on that link and got a shock - not so much about gender specific toys but the prices! Horror of horrors. Do people truly spend £500 on a box of plastic?
I have managed to avoid all that.
I'll bet my DC and DGC think I am a mean old bag.

I don't think it's done them any harm. One DGC plays 3 musical instruments, beautifully. Another makes animated films. I could boast all day.

I totally agree with you grannyactivist things actually seem worse now than they were in the 80s and 90s when my children were young. I had to search to but a tea set in primary colours and not pink fur my grandson.
Children's clothes also annoy me. It's all pink and unicorns, mermaids for girls and primary colours cars, trains and superheros for boys.

My 2 year old grandson was pushing a dolls pram at the weekend. His "baby" was a toy hammer!

My wee grandson's favourite toys at the moment are a remote control for the tv and a toy vacuum cleaner!

blondenana, it's not a recent 'these days' trend. When I did some childminding, nearly 40 years ago, I had two very young sons.

I was told off for having no 'nurturing toys' for boys and had to get a doll. I thought it was silly at the time as there were teddies and pets around to look after.

That was two years before my younger son asked for a doll of his own - interestingly.

I wasn't interested in dolls at all, much preferred my guns and train sets. Everything changed when I was 11 and suddenly got very into dolls. Hormones?

Boys' toys are so much better than girls' toys. The train set and construction toys are always the ones that my pink, sparkly five-year-old granddaughter makes for first.

Not only gender bias in toys but also race. My granddaughter is mixed race but when I tried to buy her a doll that wasn’t pink and white in skin tone as well as clothes I found it impossible. True I live in a south east town with little diversity but I found it surprising still. My GD likes cars and boys toys and her older brother used to like toy kitchens and teddies, however he’s 8 now and peer pressure means he’s heavily into football, cars robots etc though he is in a theatre and dance club which he loves.

I have a 12 year old grandson and an 8 year old granddaughter . The boy attends boxing class AND dance class....the girls plays football... dresses in dark colours, dungarees, hoodies, wears boys shoes and boys school trousers. Hasn’t worn a dress since about 5 I believe. But likes her hair long in pigtails or ponytail... her nails painted all colours of rainbow, and loves fluffy hair bands on top off the boys clothes. Hates everything pink!! They are what they are! Thankfully the boxing-dancing boy HASNT shown a penchant for fluffy headbands yet.!!