Do your child's toys perpetuate gender roles?

Girl playing with dolls in 19th century Auckland

Samantha Greenbaum---There are many factors parents use in choosing a toy for their children, or their friends’ children. One must consider how old the children are, their interests, how their parents will feel about it, and a myriad of other things. When asked to buy a toy for someone else many parents will try to simplify the issue. As understandable as this is given the thousands upon thousands of possible choices many parents and non-parents will simply consolidate the child's interests.

So Is It For A Boy or A Girl?

Must all boys play with trucks and action figures and bugs while all girls play with dolls and hair accessories and tea sets? In modern times more and more people are realizing that everything they buy for a young boy doesn't have to be blue and every girl's toy does not need to be pink or lavender. But it goes much deeper than that. Toys for girls are dolls, and kitchen sets, toy ironing boards, toy hair salons, and other stereotypical things.

For boys, the stereotype includes race cars, toolboxes, construction sets, toy soldiers, fake guns, and cowboys and Indian games. With these types of toys we tell girls to learn to cook and clean, fuss about their appearance, and raise children. We also tell boys that they need to fix things, defend themselves by fighting, and generally be aggressive. It's almost as if we want to set them up to live the old American Dream from when Eisenhower was president. Even board games are segregated by gender in many toy stores, giving boys Risk and Battleship and giving girls Pretty Pretty Princess and Telephone Tag. With this gender role segregation it can seem like asking too much of someone to ask them to find something gender neutral.

What You Can Do

The most important thing is to encourage the child's interests no matter what they are. There are gender neutral toys, like vet sets for kids who like animals or play classrooms for kids who like to teach. Another great option is to get kids science toys, chemistry sets, and dinosaur done collection kits to encourage them to learn and pursue their own interests no matter what. If your son likes to bake buy him an Easy Bake Oven.

If your daughter likes sports let her get those baseball cards. Try letting the kids chose. Instead of buying gender-specific board games buy generic ones such as Settlers of Catan. If you want to get a toy for any kid but you don't know what they really like it is a safe bet that most kids will like stuffed animals or picture puzzles. For parents who don't want their kids to be pressured by traditional notions of masculinity or femininity there is hope. Thanks to the efforts of the Let Toys Be Toys campaign Toys ‘R' Us recently desegregated their whole franchise. Now kids can be whatever they want to be.