A trip to my brother and sister-in-law’s house is never boring. The parents of a six-year-old girl and three-year-old mixed-sex twins, our visits are mainly spent watching their only boy clip clop around the living room in his sister’s high-heeled dressing up shoes and fairy wings.
Said nephew is definitely in touch with his feminine side, and has been ‘cross-dressing’ like this since he was barely out of his cot (although he does still love the ‘normal’ boyish pursuits of trains, cars and torturing the dog). It’s something his parents have never encouraged, but nor have they gone out of their way to get him to stop.
“Where did I go wrong?” wails her mum. Well, nowhere, feminists would argue, having been campaigning for years against the gender stereotypes that brand all caring, nurturing or domestic playthings as ‘girls’ toys’ and more sporty, active, adventurous toys as being just for ‘boys’.
“Where did I go wrong?” wails her mum. Well, nowhere, feminists would argue, having been campaigning for years against the gender stereotypes that brand all caring, nurturing or domestic playthings as ‘girls’ toys’ and more sporty, active, adventurous toys as being just for ‘boys’.
Take the recent campaign by feminist blogger Laura Nelson to get London toy shop Hamley’s to remove ‘sexist’ signs that divide toys by gender, a story that hit the headlines just before Christmas.
The store was forced to change its blue and pink signage to more gender neutral red and white. Hamleys now categorises its toys by interest and type, rather than sex,according to the Mirror.
So what is so wrong with dividing toys in this way? After all, it’s something we’ve been doing for years, (and something I’m definitely guilty of myself, as the mother of two boys). Laura explains it as such: “My concern (is that) that gender segregation restricted children’s and parents’ choices and influenced the development of skills and aspirations of children, contributing to society’s inequality.”
Reading that statement really made me think about my attitude to my own boys, the toys I buy them and the activities I choose for us to do. Am I guilty of gender stereotyping?
My eldest loves role play games with his monsters and Fireman Sam toys – but is that innate, or something we’ve pushed him into by discarding all the other possibilities? In fact, thinking back to when he was two, he loved putting dolls into toy pushchairs whenever we went to playgroup. I never discouraged it, but never thought to buy him a doll or pram to play with at home. Similarly, we don’t have a toy oven or any ‘home-corner’ type toys, although he does enjoy helping me cook.
So from now on I’m resolving to become more attuned to all the different kinds of play we can do together, and not just to discount things I feel he won’t be interested in on gender lines. This year we’ll be adding a dance class to go along with his football lessons, and looking at other things to play with.
Maybe we could add a new element to role-play games with his monsters, where Spiderman has a home and child to look after? It may make the whole experience more enjoyable for me, too.
So what do you think?
Do we inadvertently contribute to the gender stereotyping that are children are brought up with?
As a mother of 3 girls I have actively tried to provide a broad range of toys and activities for them to play with. I hope this will help develop a healthy attitude to what boys and girls can do and ultimately help equip them to deal with a world that still feels a need to categorise so many things based on gender.
My daughter is a huge Thomas the Tank engine fan – she has been since she was tiny. She can’t understand why it’s in the ‘boys’ section of the toy shops, and I was horrified to hear her call it that! Great post by the way.
My girls love playing with their wooden train set and take great pleasure at laying the track out with complicated bends, twists and bridges.
My three are equally at home playing dressing up or playing with cars… we quite often find them clomping around in a pair of my shoes, car in hand, ‘brumming’ around the place… Trips to the playing fields to play football, often include an impromptu dance off in the middle of the field. It is only now, at 4 years old, they have suddenly developed an interest in really playing with their toy dolls and prams, preferring instead, to play make believe games with the ‘little people’ – ELC’s range of Happy Land, which we have in immense quantities! Quite a lot of their games/activities are fairly ‘ungendered’ – playing doctor, or vet, building with blocks, drawing, colouring… One thing that surprised us fairly recently was their sudden love of ‘Disney Princesses’… we’d never actively encouraged an interest in them, sure they’d watched a few films, but never really to the point where they’d sit and watch avidly, but suddenly they went from not really knowing who/what the Disney Princess were, to being completely obsessed by them…My point of interest, where the development of my girls is concerned is more centered around how three little girls, who are the same age, have been brought up in exactly the same way, in the same setting, can be so completely different… of course Eleri’s differences can always be explained away by her being autistic, but it is very interesting how Nia and Addien, being an identical pair, can be soooo different, and yet so similar.
lol, they sound like my gang. same same but different 🙂
Kyd loves all things Hannah Montana… to the point that he even has a pink sparkly cowboy hat… He is 9yo and doesn’t seem to care if people know he’s a Hannah fan… He is also a footy fan, music fan and wrestling fan so he does stick to some stereotyping!
How cool is that. That’s what it’s all about. Creating an balanced perspective and allowing children to do and be what they want. We put the girls into a soccer club at Centre Parc. They were the only girls on the course and had a fab time and have asked to do it again!
I was quite sad when my son started saying something was for girls. I’ve always discouraged it and it’s only crept in during the last year – he’s nearly 5. He does like playing with kitchens, teasets, toy food, etc. & shows quite an interest in TV cooking programmes. I think he may be a chef in the making.
It seems to heighten once they start school and the children become more aware of the differences between boys and girls although this does also depend on the children in the year group. My eldest came home distraught last summer as some of the girls had called her cap a boys cap. It was a black Addidas one.
My 2 year old little boy loves playing with his sisters dolls, particularly Barbie dolls
When we have ‘boy’ friends round to play they all tend to draw towards the dolls and dolls house.
Amy doesn’t know the difference yet but she enjoys playing with trains just as much as she loves her pink cuddly rabbit
Just how it should be 🙂
Cars. They seem to be marketed to boys but its always the girls who get in there first and love racing around on the carpet with them!
@AetharaGirl
Mine like cars as well although they’ve moved on from brrrmmming them around to building carparks out of lego for them 🙂
my 3 year son plays with the pushchairs at play school and with my nieces dolls, it show that he has a caring side, I did once catch him painting his toe nails with my nail varnish, he said he wanted them to be like mummies, i tend to put it up alot higher now , i don’t think theres anything wrong with who plays with what toys its all interaction at the end of the day x
Pushchairs are the business and toy shopping trolleys. We had some crazy adventures with ours out and about!
Boo (age 3 1/2) loves to play with dolls houses, we had a little people one which is bright pink and he used to spend hours with that, then we were sent a wooden one to review, that has been played with daily since it arrived and infact he plays with all my old Barbie and Sindy dolls too! Mr G was less than impressed initially, but then I explained that in my opinion he’s just practising being a grown up but in small scale – afterall he’s looking after the dolls house right?
A lot of men find it strange that boys want to play with dolls etc. As you say it’s all part of role play and understanding.
My son loves playing with a kitchen and nmy baby girl loves cars. I think as young children toys are very interchangable
Completely agree although I think most toys eould be unisex if it wasn’t for peer pressure as they get older.
My son loves playing with dolls, lol. He also likes dressing them up
My son absolutely loved his kitchen when he was a toddler! What difference does it make…for goodness sake I’m so fed up with all this nonsense! It’s hard enough living in todays world without adding to it! Just let them play with whatever they want! Makes me laugh – just by making it an issue it becomes an ISSUE *shock Horror!*
I don’t think it’s an issue but I have found it interesting to listen to young children making comments about what they deem as boys or girls toys. I had a brother so we both got to play with each others toys. As I have all girls I have made a conscious choice to buy what are deemed boy specific toys for them.
My daughter loves playing with her brothers cars and trains. Isaac doesn’t seem into anything that I’d say is strictly for girls, but does like to push his dinosaur around in a buggy!!
The buggy always caused the most fights at our toddler groups. Never enough to go around.
i’ve tried to encourage more traditionally ‘female’ toys but no, he wants trains and tractors. i bet he’d love a little dolls house though but we haven’t got the space what with the tracks and trains. he likes to pretend to cook and eat dinner at the childrens centre though at their play kitchen but often the girls take over that corner. i should build him one at home really. chelseamamma yes, my son likes to push thomas around in a buggy too! thomas mad he is.
I have a shelf in my kitchen with all the plastic plates etc on and a few plastic jars filled with pasta and pulses. they often just use that to make picnincs at the dinner table.
actually after i’d written this, i did remember that he does sit his trains at the dinner table and feed them too, and put them to bed and he’s even given them mummy milk before (wasn’t quite sure what to do when he put his train on my boob for a drink!). and his trains kiss each other and say love you 🙂
My mum was a reception class teacher… she used to say a lot of the boys when they first started went straight for the dolls as it’s something they’ve never had! I have one daughter and I’ve never been worried wether she grew up to be a tom boy or a girly girl! She’s not fussed by baby dolls but does love disney princesses… her favourite are her small animal toys and her dolls house… but she also loves zooming her monster truck up the slide and playing duplo! What is funny though is that she insists on wearing dresses when you would think leggings would be more comfortable which is very girly isn’t it! I remember playing for hours with matchbox cars when I was little, and used be a bit jealous of the boy toys my brother used to get… transformer, remote controlled cars, walky talkies, they seemed so much cooler! I can confirm though I have grown up with zero interest in cars now so I guess it levels out! 🙂 Emily xx @emymc on twitter xx
My son has a broom, mop and dustpan and brush which he loves and he also has a couple of Dora the Explorer figures which he carries around lol
We haven’t ever specifically steered our children towards specific gender roles, and regularly our son would come downstairs spectacularly decked out in his sisters fairy dressup. But, over time and since going to school they both have conformed to the roles all on their own. I think following peers is a major factor in this one!
We have a bit of everything, dolls, cars, garage and train set in our house and the girls love playing with all the toys. I deliberately steered clear of pink mega blocks and pink building bricks opting for the multicoloured ones to avoid the stereotype and I’ve painted their bedrooms pale blue and added pink with accessories – so much easier on the eyes!
Great post, I’m more then happy to let Chloe play with whatever she wants and I personally prefer the more GN then pink girly coloured toys, but if she liked them then I’d have np. She does however love her play kitchen and dolly!
My son is 16 months old and loves playing with his toy kitchen as much as his cars. He also loves to walk around with teddies and dolls as ‘babies’ and I don’t mind. I won’t ever discourage him to play with ANY type of toy, he will have what makes him happy. I think we all draw a line for our children and I would only step in if I thought something was damaging. The only thing I would say is check out the daily mail’s article at the weekend about this little boy who’s parents refused to admit if he was a boy or girl for 5 years-this takes it to a new level and this I am happy to say I DO disagree with. Here’s the link, great post x
Having a boy after two girls, he plays with his “boy toys” that have been bought for him (cars, trains, etc) but also loves playing with his sisters’ toys, playing with dolls, the kitche, the dolls’ house, etc. He loves putting on fairy wings and running around. I just let him get on with it … but I might have to stop him before he goes to secondary school !!
I have two daughters and both love thier craft sets, making necklaces, cards in fact anything they can stick together. They also love dressing up and have a huge dressing up box.
I’m keen to ensure that Bud has both ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ toys as he is an only child and, therefore, doesn’t have it automatically as he would if he had a sister. I’m frustrated by the constant ‘pink’ for household toys – things like toy prams, kettles, toasters, kitchens etc. He has played with these a lot at our toddler group and I struggled to find non-pink versions for him at Christmas. I still haven’t found a doll’s pram which isn’t pink. I don’t understand why the manufacturers don’t make more gender neutral versions of household toys, are they saying only women cook meals and look after children? Not the message I want to be sending to my little boy.
My son doesn’t really think about which toys are for girls and which for boys – if he likes something, he plays with it!
My 2 1/2 year old little boy loves playing with his sisters dolls, particularly Barbie dolls and her car
I have 2 lovely little toddlers. 22 mths & 3 yrs. We actively engage in ‘boys games’. We enjoy playing with cars & train sets. We spend allot of time in the garden making dens, looking for bugs and getting well and truly dirty. I think its important they have fun and get creative. We do things spur of the moment to entertain the children. They love being princesses just as they enjoys being on a treasure hunt for various different garden bugs. Being a stay at home Mum you need variety…
Yes we do but society does in general. give children a range of toys and teach them that boys and girls are equal and can be whatever they want to be when they grow up
My 2 year old loves cars & trains, she had the Fisher Price Parking Garage for her birthday, along with a Chuggington book. She’s usually dragging Upsy Daisy round at the same time, mind you.
My boy loves playing with little tea sets, hee hee! Probably helps that mummy’s a massive tea-drinker too…
Thanks for the giveaway!
I’ll never forget when my son wanted a ‘Baby Wee Wee’! Do they still sell those? I never bought him one because I thought if his friends ever found out they would tease him for the rest of his life.
I have 2 boys and the only remotely ‘girly’ thing they like is cooking or maybe cooking isn’t girly any more with a lot of male chefs around
My baby boy has a doll- well he’s a toddler now but he loves playing with his dolls hair! Some people don’t think this is right but I think it’s great that he has a nurturing side 🙂
@hannahmdy
My son loves playing with kitchen & food sets which are often marketed for girls but shouldn’t be when you think of the likes of Gordon Ramsay & Heston Blumenthal. My daughter loves her set of Geomags
Tweeting @don1kitkat 🙂 great blog every child loves dressing up I know my 4 do x I let my children play with what ever they like 🙂
My best friend’s wee boy used to LOVE playing with a pink buggy! He used it to carry his trains, cars and other toys in though!
I am sure we stereotype our kids. I think peer pressure adds to it, even if it’s not something the kids come across at home, once they start nursery all changes. And whilst you might try hard with your little ones, once they start getting teased, you give up and encourage the stereotyping.
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My aunt needs to read this great post. It’s very interesting. When her son plays with the girl next door he is always playing with her toys and ignoring hers. My aunt worries about it, but I tell her that it’s not a big deal. It’s a novelty to have different toys and doesnt actually mean anything when he is feeding a baby. In fact, it shows he might be a good father some day!
Following: @rachelmedhurst
When my son was younger, he had a buggy for his bob the builder and a kitchen/workshop where he made cakes and buns like big cook little cook and fixed things like bob!
My little girl is 3 and is Thomas mad. It’s only recently since she has started nursery school that she has started to ask for more girly things, I think because most of her new friends are quite “girly girls”. I have never told her that she can’t have something because it is “for boys” it’s not something I’ve previously given much thought to if I’m honest.
My son loves the retro Easy Bake Ovens! He doesn’t ALWAYS use it to make food, sometimes used to test the melting point of things! I see a young Heston Blumenthal!
vryodd@hotmail.com
This is an ages old question that will never be resolved, but yes, of course we do. Girls and boys do behave differently and therefore we will react differently to them. Equally Mothers and Fathers behave differently according to their perceptionds of the world and the different psychological factors influencing their different brains, and kids will pick up on and learn from all that. Impossible not to :))
My son oves playng with his sister’s dolls house! Some of the stories he creates are hilarious.
My daughter loves playing with her brother’s toy gun
Once children get to a ‘certain age’ I think the unavoidable ‘mummy I want a pink and sparkly unicorn’ thing will happen. At the moment Queen Scamp is nearly 4 and Ozzy is nearly 3 and Ozzy likes basically whatever his big sisters likes – including trying to et me to put my black nail varnish on him!
Queen Scamp loves her brothers dinosaurs and Ozzy is rather partial to mummys nail varnish!
My son is 3 years old and loves dressing up as a princess and is really into handbags and shoes. Mainly down to his older sister :-). My daughter loves football. Oh how the tables have turned. xx
E has always said he likes pink and purple the best because they are the prettiest. I think it’s important to try not to influence them one way or another but once they’re at nursery or playgroups there’s not much we can do.
Maxwell loves to play with dolls and Maisie loves to play with toy cars! I’m just going to wrap each others pressies up next Christmas lol! Great comp :O)
My boys had dolls, a pink buggy a kitchen and all sorts really, I do not differentiate
My little legs loves to dress up in her princess outfits, then adds a yellow builders hard hat and tool belt complete with drill, screwdriver,hammer and saw!
Berni@scouseboysbabe
Oooh I love that photo of the girl pirates! We currenlty have both kids dress as pirates at every party – as it is so easily done and both boy and girl look lovely 🙂
Great competition too, thank you!
Maggy
@redtedart
My youngest boy loves his big sister’s dolls house and dollies and her shopping trolley 🙂
@olivia280177
PS and my little girl LOVES playing with the train set!
My son loves his kitchen. Lots of teddy bear tea parties
My boys love playing with baby dolls and pushchairs! 🙂
@needaphone my son had a tea set when he was little , my son wanted a play hoover my husband said no and bough him a toy lawn mower instead !
Transformers (Robots in disguise)! And she has grown up wearing black, blue, she’s just not a girly girl… @essexgirlSE
My son loved ‘clippy cloppy’ around in his sisters dressing up shoes and dresses – bless! @Bobbity666
I am a mum of 5, 4 boys and one girl, my girl used to love playing with the boys stuff and the boys used to always have a little go of her dolls e.c.t. only until they reached a certain age and then too much peer pressure involved. my kids are all grown up now, some with children of there own. and its funny how my son loves to “play” with his daughter and her toys!
My older child is a girl who loved dolls, lego and brio train set. When child 2 came a long he happily played with these too but also with Megs dolls as we never told him that wasn’t expected.
I’ve always gone for gender neutral toys for my daughter, I was never into dolls and pink when I was little so it would feel strange buying that sort of thing for her. That doesn’t stop my mother-in-law buying it for her though!
My son used to love playing with his sisters dolls, especially dressing them up in various clothes and doing their hair, he also loved their doggie handbags.
My little girls hates dolls she actually throws them when you give them to her. She is very happy playing with cars and ‘boy’ things….she does have 2 older brothers!!
Little Madam loves playing with cars but I was told today that noah had dressed up as a school girl! As you do!
Paige is only 8 months old so isn’t worried what sex a toy if for, they all end up in her mouth, but she loved her cousins trains!!
my girlie likes to play with anything, she loves her dolls but also likes cars and firetrucks too, we dont encourage one or the other, we just go with the flow and follow her lead
we bought our boys a dolls house. they love playing with it!
FYI i’m andrew T in rafflecopter
4yo plays with hubby’s star wars lego quite a lot.@budgetingmum
My girls absolutely loved their train set and their boy cousins loved playing with their dollies and kitchen!
My daughter wanted to grow up just like her dad and was over the moon when she had a Bob the Builder tool set for her birthday….think her dad quite enjoyed it too!@BrassoLasso
I really agree with your comments about stereotyping from an early age. I think it’s hard for girls to be tom-boys these days. The amount of girly stuff that is marketed at little girls is overwhelming. The whole girls-world looks pink! Even LEGO has gone all princessy and now has shops and twee little pink bits and bobs. I’ve two little boys and they love doing art and quite a few people have said to me that they think that’s unusual for boys – as if girls should be the ones doing all the creating and drawing and boys just play football and romp around bashing and fighting!
I have 2 girls and my eldest is a real girly girl….Dolls, make up, anything disney princess she will not entertain playing with anything aimed at boys but my youngest is the total opposite….Sometimes think she should of been born a boy….She has a tool set and loves Handy Manny, also loads of cars and other boys toys 😀
I have a boy and a girl and they totally go along with the gender stereotyping. Dexter loves his cars, his garage, his helicopter and his gadgets (phone, computer etc!) and Keani is totally into pink girly stuff, dressing up, crafting, glitter etc. We tried to steer Keani away from the ‘pink princess ballerina’ thing, but she has really gravitated towards it, so what can we do?! So I’m afraid neither child plays with anything targeted towards the opposite sex!
I’m not actually a mother myself but I have a step grandson who`s 3 ,he likes playing with his mummy’s make-up!! he had his face painted at a summer fair and since then is fascinated with having his face painted his fave is a Tiger.
He`s got some proper face-paints now as he was ruining his mummy’s make-up and the carpet !!
my daughter who is 5 loves to play football and also likes the bakugan toys probably more than my sons
My little boy loves anything in fluorescent pink. He adores wearing jewelry and trotting around with my shoes and handbags. He loves his cooker and playhouse. In every other respect he’s the most boyish little chap you could ever meet! :o)
My kids have had a toybox full of toys for both sexes. It was never really an issue as to what they played with, especially when the older two were younger (a girl and a boy) – they just played together 🙂
My daughter loves cars and trucks. We found some vintage metal ones in the garage and she really enjoys them, including the crane.
my 2nd daughter got a cars and garage for her 4th Christmas as thats what she asked Santa for, ( we had no boys at the time) and son got a doll he called Nicola and a buggy for his 2nd birthday as his sisters got fed up of him pinching theirs, and funnily enough his long term partner is called Nicola – wonder if he knew….lol
my son had a doll’s buggy when he was a toddler.. which he used to use to pretend to mow the grass!
sometimes i just wish they’d leave well enough alone and let boys and girls just be kids.
I can’t bear the gender sterotyping either! I have 2 boys and a girl and they play with everything together – tea set, ball games, lego….
My 4 yer old daughter always loved playing with boys toys like cars , but the biggest hit with her is football. It’s not exactly a toy, but sport, but typically for boys. She just loves putting on the futball gear and playing with daddy. And she’s not a tomboy type at all, she a Barbie haha.
My girls had a few sessions in a soccer club when we were on holiday. They were the only girls (I was surprised by this)and have asked to do a club again as they had so much fun.
I have two sons and a daughter. my middle son wanted a doll and buggy as his female friends had one. I bought him a boy doll and buggy and couldtnt believe all the negative comments I had from friends who thought I was doing the wrong thing. My daughter grew up with lots of boys toys around her but did want the girly barbies.
Oh that’s such a shame that you had negative comments. Boys and girls love pushing buggies/prams around with passengers in them 🙂
My song loves playing with toy kitchens and toy pushchairs. I can understand that he sees me pushing is pram around but I can only assume he likes pretending to cook because his dad does… I certainly don’t do it enough for him to think it’s fun!
They both love dressing up. My son will put on a pair of my daughters dressing up heels as fast as he will put on his batman suit. He will sit whilst she puts make up on him but then he will play with his basket ball and lego and cars. My daughter loves my son’s batcave and both love playing shop. @MummyFever
My youngest son Harley loves Peppa pig and Peppa pig consists of a lot of pink stuff which is fine as I still buy it for him as it makes him happy. He also has a pink potty. My daughter when younger was a huge fan of Thomas the tank which was cool with me too. I really don’t mind or care what others think. My son with Aspergers likes padlocks and batteries and that’s just the way it is! x
@clairelouise82
my friend has twins, one of each, and they always prefer each others toys. The boy loves the dolls pram but the girl prefers the toy cars. When I was a kid I had an equal mix of girls and boys toys and loved them all equally.
My son adores his play kitchen, does lots of baking – real and pretend, and loves to line his teddies up for tea parties!
My son used to love his toy dyson when he was younger but hes grown out of it now and lego is the in thing
I’ll now try and answer the question 🙂 My son loved his doll’s house, but he did tend to park cars in any room he could get them into.
My little boys loved their toy kitchen, teaset and trolley with food. We struggled to find a teaset that was not pink but managed to get a blue one but to be honest I’m not sure it would have made a difference it is only in the last 5 months or so since starting school that my little boys are very aware of what they think are boys and girls toys.
I also bought a dolls house that I saw in a charity shop once, it was an old school Fisher Price version that I had as a child. They parked their toy cars in each room with the odd lion, giraffe etc thrown in for luck.
my son always goes for my daughters brush and make up sets, he’s 4 and shes 13 he’s always around her wanting to be in her room, i also have a little niece and he gets her pram and doll and pushes it all over he fights to try and keep it
My son loves playing with his big sisters pram and dollies and she loves playing with cars and trucks! Kids love playing with all toys, as long as they are having fun and smiling I’m happy!
I don’t have any kids but my young cousin enjoys playing with a football, toy cars and action men. I don’t think it matters at all really. Toys are toys!
Roo loves dressing up as a pirate and of course she loves football with daddy
@littleboo_21
I think, children should be allowed to play with whatever toy they like as long as it makes them happy.
My son is always playing with his sisters kitchen and dolls buggy and it works in reverse as she is always playing with his castle
My son won’t touch any of his sister’s toys, but DD will play with any of his – transformers, Lego Ninjago, Spiderman Lego…
its not a toy, but when daddy is doing DIY or putting together a new toy, our daughter loves to help sort out the nuts and bolts. from an early age shes loved playing with the screws and tools and generally helping daddy with mans work.
My lovely little niece loves playing with cars and a digger – I have no idea why people think those are boy toys though!
My God son loves playing with my little pony dolls.
My little girl loves Super Mario so she can play with the boys and gets quite competitive 🙂
MY 3 year old girl, keeps saying she wants to be a boy. She asked the hairdresser for boy hair the other day. xx
oh and she loves playing pirates! even dressing up in boys pirate outfits
My girls love playing with their kitchen and dolls but they do enjoy pretending to fix things with their plastic play tools as well.
@MummyBee81
My friends son wanted to dress up after my wedding in my wedding dress, he looked very funny and even got a photo of him in my dress holding my boquet and wearing my veil, he loved it! I thought why not if he wants to try it on then he can 🙂
I was always keen not to fall into the gender sterotyping when getting toys for Adam. I always had a brother to play with, and the two of us used to play together with each others toys. I have a photo of my young brother playing with my ironing board, and I used to love playing with his cars and garage. I suggested I gave Adam all my old Cindy Dolls as whenever I visited my friend with twin girls he always made a beeline for the little dolls they used to have, but Adams Dad was absolutely against it (he grew up with 2 brothers). I did managed to get him a toy sweeper, broom and Dustpan and Brush and for ages it was one of his favourite toys. He is now coming up to 7 years old – he loves everything pink and recently after sorting out my loft, he found my old real life size baby doll. We dressed it up in some of his old baby clothes and now he has it in his room. I worked in a pre-school for a while and home corner was always full of boys, and there were always agurments over the Pushchairs and Dolls and the Shopping Trolly. We even had some of our boys dressing up in the fairy princess dresses!