Blog Five.

There are some toys that are incredibly gendered, like dolls and GI Joes, for example. Some toys can be gender-neutral, but I honestly think that "they" are trying to divide the genders from birth pretty much. It starts with pink for girl babies and blue for boy babies, and it continues with toys. I don't think toys should be gendered, because it diminishes creativity and imagination in children if they get such intense division messages from an early age.

The Toys R Us website actually has a function where you can click on either "girls" or "boys" to find toys. In the 5-7 year old age bracket, when I click "girls," there are some neutral toys like LEGOs, walkie talkies and play castles. But it's mostly dolls, little toy animals to nurture, and lots of pink. When I click "boys," there are the same animals, but the rest is cars, sports toys, video games and action figures.

I do think that toys influence the way children play. Take Barbies, for example. One of the most fun parts of playing with a Barbie is dressing her up in all kinds of different outfits, doing her hair, etc. GI Joes don't have different outfits or long flowing blonde hair. Therefore little girls are concentrating more on making their toy look beautiful, as a reflection of themselves, or as living vicariously through their doll. The beauty myth starts early. Little boys, on the other hand, get right to the action with their toys - no need to worry about looks.

That's why I do think that the toys influence what kids grow up to be, to a certain extent. I mean, just because a girl played with Barbies as a child, doesn't mean she will grow up to be a bimbo or materialistic. But it may be a good explanation for the beauty myth and how it affects grown women.

My favorite toys when I was a kid were my "hard animals." I guess I called them that because they were small animals made of hard plastic. I had my own little menagerie that I'd bought with my hard-earned lemonade-stand money. They all had names and identities, and I liked to make up stories and act them out with the animals. After doing this blog, I realize that my hard animals were not specifically gendered, because I could assign whatever gender I wanted to each of them. I think that boys and girls could have an equal amount of fun playing with them. Also, I think that making up the stories helped develop creativity.

I also liked playing outside, climbing trees, riding my bike, playing with American Girl dolls and Beanie Babys. The point is, there are some toys that are extremely gendered, but as long as a little girl doesn't play with ONLY Barbies and a little boy doesn't play with ONLY cars, it's perfectly fine. I just don't like the whole "girls like dolls, boys like trucks" concept that I suspect some parents may inflict on their children.