Gender Toys

For Christmas we decided to get Tristen a little play kitchen. He loves to play in our kitchen with the pots and pans and I wanted him to have something to play with that will allow him to play creatively. I didn't put another thought into getting him the kitchen until today when we went to go look at the kitchens to figure out which one I would like to get, I had such a hard time finding them in Toys R Us. Come to find out they are in the "girls" toys. I had to ask the sales associate where to find them and she even gave me a funny look because I had two boys with me. I never once put any thought that a play kitchen might be a "girl" toy.

It got me thinking if I planned on only doing gender "appropriate" toys. So far most of our toys are "boy" toys with balls, trucks, Lego's and other sports toys. When I was picking them out I don't believe I thought about them being "boy" toys but more about I knew my son would love to play with them.

We got him a stuffed Woody doll from toy story when we brought Connor home and refer to it as "his baby". It helped with the jealousy when I was feeding or changing Connor we would tell Tristen to go get his baby and feed or change him.  I would not have hesitated if he would want to play with with a barbie or a "girly" toy. I know Shane would question why a pink barbie was in the house but would not make a big deal about it. I wonder if other people would be as relaxed about it. It also got me thinking about Nature vs nurture when it came to gender roles as well, but I could discuss that forever!

I think having both gender toys are a good teaching tool. I am raising not only boys but, husbands and daddy's and one day those boys will need to learn to cook, care for a baby and take care of their wives and I think playing with "girl" toys helps reinforce those characteristics. Plus it maybe the only chance I have to have something pink instead of blue in my house ;)