• Home
  • Services
  • About
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Temperament Form
  • Workshops
Kerrie LaRosaParent Coach

Pink or Blue Toys? 

3/12/2015

3 Comments

 
Picture

There is a lot of discussion about gender and toys.  This article questions Lego’s sexist marketing strategies  and wants to see lego do more to avoid gender-stereotypes in their lego sets.

However this article, offers a fresh perspective on the debate, questioning why we consider things that are “girly” bad.

As a parent of a boy and a girl, I have observed them playing with each other’s toys disregarding whether the toy was created to appeal to their gender or their sibling’s gender.

I do wish that toys marketed towards girls included more gender-neutral colors and incorporated less “traditional” female roles. I also wish that toys marketed towards boys included more nurturing concepts and less emphasis on superpowers and weapons. 

But, I also think that the toy companies and toy stores are not the only ones to blame. We (both parents and society) fuel the idea of gender-specific toys.  We buy the toys, we tell our children which toys are for girls and which are for boys. We also teach them that pink and purple are for girls and blue is for boys.

What would happen if we didn’t do that? Toy companies want to sell toys. If we stopped playing into the idea of gender-specific toys maybe toy companies would stop marketing them in this way.

As a child I played with Barbies and I played with Legos, Lincoln logs and cars. Nobody told me that cars were just for boys and nobody discouraged me from playing Barbies. I see my daughter doing the same. And, I want my son to feel the same way. There is a lot of emphasis on a lack of stimulating toys for girls, but there is also a lot of shaming boys for wanting to play with toys marketed towards girls. I want my son to feel as comfortable choosing to play with baby dolls and kitchen sets as he does with superheros and transformers.

Children have incredible imaginations and may turn a robot into a princess and vice versa if we let them. Maybe we should step out of their way and let them just play. Who cares which aisle the toy came from, what color it is and let our children decide what to play with. We might be surprised by their choices. 


3 Comments

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Kerrie LaRosa is a parent coach and a mother of two children. She draws on her professional expertise and personal experience to provide tired parents with some quick tips, resources and fun anecdotes.

    Archives

    June 2018
    February 2018
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Activities
    Allergies
    Baby
    Behavior
    Birth Order
    Book Review
    Children
    Development
    Discipline
    Doctor
    Gifts
    Halloween
    Holidays
    Language Development
    Learning
    Living In The Moment
    Moving
    Parenting
    Persistence
    Picky Eating
    Play
    Reading
    Resolutions
    Safety
    Sharing
    Sleep
    Speech
    Storm
    Stuttering
    Superstorm Sandy
    Tantrum
    Temperament
    Traditions
    Travel
    Waiting
    Yelling

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from brettneilson, rolands.lakis, koroshiya, beelerspace, kellywoolen, Amy McKenzie, nerissa's ring, surlygirl, Enrico Matteucci ☸, aarongilson, dawnhops, Peter Werkman (www.peterwerkman.nl), jem, National Assembly For Wales / Cynulliad Cymru, erin_everlasting, christine [cbszeto], emrank, imcountingufoz, frotzed2, ebmarquez, rumpleteaser, brewbooks, ToddMorris, nutrition education