We were at a family birthday party over the weekend - the topic came up about how we have noticed all toys that were "non-gender specific" come in two color pallets these days - primary or pink.
It seems more and more things are made "for boys" or "for girls".
I mentioned to my cousin that I had read some backlash online about the Lego Friends aimed at girls, but I disagreed with it because the Lego Friends have cool stuff! A jet ski, a karate studio, soccer field AND AN AIRPLANE! Yes, these are not girly girls so I like them.
Then the bouncing was over - the party began to break up.
At the end of any good party for kids there are the gift bags.
Since Mr. J was turning three his Dear Mama made up cute sports themed bags with bouncy balls, soccer and football Frisbees, pencils and temporary tattoos. You know? Kid treasures.
Boo Boo was totally excited. She loves bouncy balls and things that relate to soccer, of course!
Then I thought - hmmm. What if this had been Miss Boo Boo's birthday and we gave out gift bags with HER favorite princess - Ariel? Would any boys there like it? In fact I made a point at her sixth birthday of making special "boy" gift bags for her two buddies. We even made Spiderman instead of Ariel T-shirts as the party craft.
Was that wrong? And just how far have we come since "Free To Be You and Me!"?
Sorry Marlo. I may have failed you.
2 comments:
We tried to be conscious of this with Finn, but you're right... everything is primary or pink. He did get a pink cash register for Christmas, but mostly things screamed 'boy'. With Tate though, she's gotten a lot of hand-me downs so there are much more 'boy' colored things. I think it's awesome that she plays with cars and Spidey and that Finn will play with her babies once in awhile.
This is such a hard thing to deal with. It's totally ok and accepted for girls to like trucks and balls and spiderman but boys liking dolls and pink and play kitchens is still not completely accepted. That definitely should change.
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