Dolls for boys and cars for girls

Who knows what will happen to Debenhams or the rest but that’s not relevant - they’re here now.

I like a visit to the high street and the out of town centres. No fretting here.

Debenhams won't be there long

The shops you mention have a limited amount of space.

Shop online

It's the future and you won't have to fret about getting to these ghastly shops and looking for dolls that suit

I have a high street and several out of town shopping centres with shops like Asda, Tesco, Debenhams, Argos, The Entertainer, Poundland, pound World, B and M, Home Bargains and on and on - they all sell toys. Y’know, that sort of high street.

How many black dolls (or indeed any other ethnic groups) are available on the high street though?

What is this 'high street', you speak of?

I live in an area that was rather famous for its 'high street'

Not any more. No shops to speak of. Coffee shops and empty premises.

I can't remember the last time I saw a traditional toy shop either.

Many of us shop online these days

And there's plenty of choice there.

Definitely no dolls other than white in the high street. Yes there were “black” dolls in the old days but I have a feeling they were novelty items for white kids rather than being inclusive. Besides my GD is not exactly “black” any more than “white” but something in between.

I doubt if they could do that too Chestnut - but that’s not I’ve suggested, is it.

I doubt that high street shops can cater for 100% of the population's requirements SirChenjin. People can always shop online.

They don’t have a limited range of (or absence of) white dolls Chestnut. Minority groups make up more than 10% of the UK population after all - hardly an insignificant number.

My DD was determined to bring up DGD to play with boys and girls toys. DGD had other ideas and almost totally ignored the work bench, train set, cars and lorries etc. in favour of play food, shopping trolley, toy kitchen, toy vacuum. And she will only wear purple or pink, hates trousers and loves dresses.

SirChenjin I find high street shops have a very limited range of anything now. You can search for hours round the shops and then find what you want in 2 minutes online. That applies to many different things which may include black dolls.

I think the gender bias is encouraged by marketing experts. If you buy a pink sparkly bike for your daughter, you would be more likely to buy a blue one for your son, rather than pass on the pink one.
Sharing is not good for trade!

How many black dolls (or indeed any other ethnic groups) are available on the high street though?

There are plenty of black dolls for children on Amazon so this is not true.

Speldnan.... I’m totally surprised by your post..... I had a black dolly when I was 8 years old for my birthday.... I was also given twin dollies ( boy and girl)...for Christmas three weeks later. But I didn’t really notice the colour of her face as I’d had a black brother since being born , he was four years older than me. But really surprised that black dolls seemed to be around 60 years ago but not so much now.

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.!!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Hot return too soon there

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

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’