Just last week I had to laugh. I look at my kids, and Charlie is playing with the baby doll while Maggie plays with the cars. On Monday, I saw 3 different posts asking about gender specific toys and if you let your kids play with certain things. My answer is a resounding yes! Both of my kids love their baby dolls as much as their toy cars.
And, look who is learning to cut her food all by herself! Such a big girl.
my son showed an interest in baby dolls so i got him his own.. i think it’s a wonderful tool to help him to learn to be gentle & compassionate!
I agree! When Charlie was maybe 6 months old, I had my family help me on the search for a baby doll for him. He plays more with his sisters and she plays with the one he got, but he’s learning to take care of the baby. so cute.
I love that you dont gender type the toys the kids can play with
I would never try! I love seeing what interests them. I think even if I tried, it would be a lost cause! Haha.
I would totally let my son play with dolls if that’s what he was interested in. It’s a great way to teach any kid how to treat a new sibling, or any younger baby they may be around.
Props to you for not having the fears most parents have about letting their kids play with gender “inappropriate” toys- if only more parents did that for their children the world would be such a happier place 🙂
Love this! A friend just gave us some books their boys loved (including Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site), and my sweet niece asked me if I was going to save them for a future baby boy. I said, no way! I’d love for our baby girl to learn about construction machines and other “boy” things!
Thanks for the post. Earlier this week, my daughter (2 years old) was playing with a little boy (2.5 years old) from next door. She wound up playing in a mud puddle while he pushed around her pink and purple baby stroller. I love seeing that. 🙂
I’ve never been one to say to my son, “That’s for girls”. There has been one exception! It has always been if my son wanted something pink or purple I didn’t care. I didn’t care at all when he wanted to pass out “My Little Pony” Valentine’s cards at Valentine’s day. I even bought him a “My Little Pony” toy for him for his Easter Basket. But I discovered that I do draw a line at dressing him in girls clothing! One time at a store he say “My Little Pony” underwear (girls panties of course!) and asked me to buy them for him and that was the first time I ever caught myself saying, “No, that’s for girls”. So I discovered that while I don’t mind him liking “girl” toys, I won’t put him in girl’s clothing!
I have an older girl and a newborn boy and my daughter loves playing with her trains just as much as her baby dolls nothing wrong with it at all
Love this!! I will never base my child’s toys on her gender. If she likes it (and its age appropriate) I’ll get it for her.
Good goin! My son is 6 and still can’t cut his own food lol. He is learning though 🙂
My kids play in the dirt (girls).. Lol.
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I have 2 boys and a baby girl. My boys do occasionally play with dolls and their sisters more girly things but they are just geared to love tractors and cars and tools, ect. It’s nothing that I have pushed on them or taught them, they just find anything with wheels fascinating and tools are so much fun. I am sure my daughter will play with boy things as she gets older too.
Love this post, I dont think its wrong for boys to play with dolls or girls to play with toy cars, children should be able to play with any and all types of toys and explore what they like and dislike.
I have a very very girly girl daughter. I do tend to encourage her toward girly stuff, I’m sure. But a lot of it is her own personality. That all said – she also climbs better than any boy her age and goes down the BIG slide at this bounce house place we go to and she adores this truck she has that breaks apart when it crashes.
Those trucks are so cool!
I am really looking forward to my daughter inheriting the dinosaur toys my brother and I played with when she is old enough for them (they are rather small for her now) and I will LOVE to teach her to play “demolition derby” with the toy cars if she wants to. We already have a lot of fun getting dirty and exploring nature, as well as banging on drums and learning to throw a ball. She has some stuffed animals and a few dolls, as well as a play kitchen her father made her. Life is too short to be limited.
Before my daughter was even born we bought my son a toy stroller because he really loved them. He still pushes around his stuffed animals. Everyone thinks the stroller belongs to my daughter but she’s more interested in her brothers toy cars!
I gave my son a baby doll to play with when he was younger and he didn’t want to have anything to do with it, my daughter on the hand loves cars, dolls, dirt etc. I don’t think toys should be gender specific at all, they can all teach different kids, different things!
When I found out my first baby was a girl I was thrilled! I pictured her in little dresses, with hair bows in her neatly combed hair, playing with her baby dolls. My now 2 year old daughter is usually a disaster, refuses to wear a hair bow, and her favorite toys include cars and a garbage truck. And now I wouldn’t want her any other way 🙂 I am now expecting a boy and I’ve learned not to have expectations!!
I have 3 boys. While 2 of them are “typical boys”, the other is so sweet and has a very feminine side. He loves dolls!
She did a great job cutting those hot dogs all by herself! and it’s weird to read this post today because I just read a post on Facebook about a mom going into the store with her two year old boy and getting harassed because her son was wearing one of her headbands. Awful.
She was so happy with herself! I can’t believe that! Just today, we had professional pictures done, and at one point, Charlie was wearing Maggie’s pink bonnet.
haha!! I never had this issue with my son, but my friends son did play with his sisters dolls. My daughter though loves playing legos and building things with her big brother.
I let them play with whatever makes them happy. I see no reason why a little girl can’t have fun with trucks and hot wheels and a boy play with baby dolls.