Boys and Barbies

Do you let your boys play with dolls?

Do you let your girls play with cars?

As a child, I had My Little Ponies and dolls but I also had Technic Lego. ย After my brother was born, my ponies and dolls played with his cars and garage and they all went on holiday to the big Lego beach!

Our children have always been exposed to both stereotypical girls and boys toys. I have to say that despite this they have, in the main, gravitated back towards the traditional stereotypes. We have a very girly girl who has loved Barbie and before Barbie it was princesses, and three boyish boys who love cars, trucks and superheros.

In observing their play over the years however, there has been some real common ground between them that has largely involved cooking, playing shops and drawing and crafts.

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By far the most played with item by all the children is the play kitchen and plastic food. They have all loved this and now all four will happily play ‘Starbucks’ together.

In addition to this,ย they have also spent time appreciating and playing with each others toys.

The little boys have really enjoyed playing Barbies this last week and it is quite fascinating to watch. They have watched the Barbie movies with their big sister and can relate that to the toys, recognising some of the characters.

Although they do gravitate back to their cars and monster trucks, I really feel it is important to let them play with a range of toys.

Do you challenge gender stereotypes when it comes to the toys you give your children to play with?

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10 comments

  1. I have to be honest I don’t challenge the stereotypes, I would rather that my son played with ‘boy’ toys but I don’t mind his pushing a baby pram though (after all this is what Daddy does with the baby!). I wouldn’t ever take toys off him if I deem them ‘girly’ but he tends to gravitate to boys toys anyway really! Interesting post. #binkylinky

  2. I think children should just be allowed to play with whatever toy that want. I have twin girls. One loves the typical girl toys whilst the other loves a mixture of so called girls and boys toys. She loves spiderman and football. I think there’s more of a stigma attached to boys playing with girls toys than girls playing with boys toys as that seems more acceptable for some reason! Thanks for linking up to the #BinkyLinky

  3. I only have one child, Noah and he is 23 months old, 2 next month. Back when I was pregnant I always thought toys and toys. There is nothing that’s just for boys and nothing that’s just for girls. Noah has dolls, a toy pram, a play kitchen, cars, trains and everything else in between. He’s has the option to play with whatever he feels like but his preference are cars. It makes me happy that I’ve had no say into what he should be playing with and has a preference that his own.

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