Hello my name is Kelly and I gender-stereotyped

So Ainsley and Bea are all into princesses and My Little Pony, and dresses and anything sparkly and pretty. I've never thought much about it, just oh wow, look I got girly-girls and I am not like that, how funny. Well today a friend was giving away this Little Tikes workbench, and even though Caleb's not really old enough for it yet, she wanted it out, so I got it and was going to just put it away, but then A&B started playing with it. They were pretending to fix things, wanted to know what all the tools were, said they were going to build a house, and were having a blast with it. Why did it never occur to me to get this kind of stuff for them? Then I noticed the lack of cars and trucks and other "boy" toys. I thought this was interesting, I had always said I was just getting them the stuff they were interested in, when maybe I was subconsciously pointing them in that direction?

 

I tried to make Katie a girly girl but it wasn't happening! She won't play with dolls or her dollhouse! If it isn't a car or truck or some sort of boy toy she won't have it! I think that stems from having big brothers though.

 

Hannah loves balls, trucks, changing and feeding her babies and books - in that order :ibiggrin:

Natalie loves tea parties, cooking with her play foods, cuddling her babies and pushing them in their stroller and legos

 

That is so cute!! It's funny you are bringing this up because we get together with a b/g set of twins a lot and my girls love to play with his trucks and tools and such so for their birthday I was going to get them a couple of things like that. Emma loves the trucks, airplanes, trains, etc. and Lauren loves the tools.

 

I think you are right Kelly. I think we all do that and just dont know it. I am glad they love the tool bench. That is great stuff for fine motor skills. I have the opposite in this house. The boys love the vacuum cleaners, brooms, and dollhouse. Oh well ardon:

 

I consciously put out 'gender neutral' toys all the girls life----they still gravitate toward princess/pinkish stuff. Though I definately have one more girly-girl than the other. My other DD is more a 'nature' girl and likes animals and being outside.

I also found now that they are older--if I do a 'theme' ever few weeks and certain toys/books/crafts etc then they are exposed to things they may not gravitate toward. Right now we are doing transportation and it is neat to see them play with cars/planes/helicopter toys that have been left to collect dust for months. We've also done ocean/bugs/weather/dinosaurs--it is amazing how much more they play with some of those toys once we've done something with them.

Some of the girls favorite things to do is drive trucks/cars with princesses in/on them in the sandbox....

Pick up some cheap cars/trucks/plain blocks etc at the dollar store and see if they get some use!

KC

 

OMG, I am in the same situation as you. Rianna doesn't play wtih dolls, the cute stroller, snap n' style from F/P, and etc. I just recently purchased a used vanity/chair and a workbench. It was sitting in the garage waiting for it to be put in the basement because they were for their birthday gift. But the twins saw it when we had to leave the house. Sure enough, Rianna went straight over to workbench tools and Justin went over to vanity/chair.

I think maybe it is because I am not such a girly-girl to play with Barbies or Dolls when I was growing up. My parents were divorced and my mom couldn't afford to buy any of the things that we give our twins nowadays. Every time I take them to the toy aisle they both seem to know what they are looking at when they want to see something.

They both are into dinosaurs, cars & trucks, handy mandy toys, bowling ball/pin, playdoh, and still play with that ball popper. We have a lot of toys that are neutral for both of them to play.

However, we were invited to a Disney 'Prince & Princess' birthday party for a friend of mine who have a girl turned '3'. My daughter was looking at all of the gifts she got for her birthday. She was drawn onto 1 thing that is the Barbie VW car! I check online to see how much it cost -- it is expensive!!!!! I will buy her 1-2 Barbies and my son will get some of those home depot tools for their upcoming birthday.

I think it is normal that they play with opposite girl/boy toys now. And eventually they'll start playing with their own stuff. Right?!
RJ

 

I am definitely not a girly-girl and I had no clue what to do with Amanda when she was born. Aidan and I have a very close relationship because I feel much more comfortable with boys. To avoid the psychoanalysis that may follow, I'll avoid elaborating too much more

Anyway, during the first 3 years, they both played with similar gender-neutral toys. I have more fun buying trucks, cars, sports stuff and tools and activity based toys. For their 3rd birthday Amanda received 2 princess dresses and a princess nightgown. The rest is history. She is obsessed with princesses and dressing up. She still does not really play with dolls but she shows interest in more feminine toys and TV shows/movies. I figure since I have b/g twins it will be easier for them to be exposed to both types of gender focused toys.

 

Your subject line cracked me up.

It is definitely a danger. To some degree A&S are just into princesses and sparkly things (despite my wishes ), but I've had to make a real effort to remind myself to get them non-girly stuff too. Fortunately I have a bunch of family members who are virulently opposed to gender stereotyping (my mom is a card-carrying Ms. Magazine feminist and DH's family members, men and women, are all PhD scientists) so I have plenty of help with this.

 

:laughing: Don't be too hard on yourself Kelly. You know deep-down you wanted princess girly-girls! (*please read the sarcasm*)

 

My girls are a little bit more girly than I'm comfortable with--but I think ALL kids are in to everything when given the chance to explore novel things. Tons of little boys love play kitchens. Why wouldn't a well adjusted girl love a tool bench? It's all make believe and role playing. We shoot for variety in our toys, not neutrality. We have a dump truck as well as fairy costumes. They can be girly, as long as they remember our last name means "strong as iron"!

Oh and Kelly the thread caught my eye in the list and I swear it said, My name is Kelly, I like to dance. :lol:

 

:laughing: It's good that Caleb came into the family to open up new avenues of fun for A & B!!!

 

90% of are toys are my little pony but we have lots of cars and boyish toys. They love to help papa work on the rhino

 

I think this is great that you found out. I have very much boys but, they love the kitchen, they love littlest pet shop and they have "babies" of thier own-ok they are mine but they have played with them. Them have them go to 'dance parties'

 

I was about as girly as a girl can get when I was little. BUT, I loved tools and building things. My dad and I spent hours building/fixing things and I still love it to this day! I'm better at home improvement than my DH.

 

We do it too Kelly. We have all boy things and I have found that over time John likes a lot of little girls playsets and never even played with a babydoll unless it was his cousins. I think its good for them to branch out and do other things! Kudos to you for noticing!

 

I don't know why it just never occurred to me to get them a toolbench or Hot Wheels or whatever. I just always got them girl toys, thinking well that's what they like. Well now my tool ignorance is showing, they keep asking me what tool this is, and I'm like "uhhh.. .a wrench!" "But you said the last one was a wrench?" "ummm.. it's a different kind of wrench!" :lol: OK, I don't know my tools.

 

Your subject line had me cracking up too!

I really like "boy" toys myself, so I've always gotten the girls trucks, cars, legos. So now I have little fashionistas who love to put on their princess outfits and drive their cars around!

 

We've always had what would be considered boy toys and I have a house full of girls. We were fairly young when we had our first and Daddy wasn't very comfortable with playing barbie at first. We've got Bob the Builder and all his friends, a tonka truck, hot wheels, dinosaurs and tools. They got equal play as the girly stuff for a long time. The little two lean a little more towards the girly stuff now, but hey, a Tonka Dump truck is fun. Put the baby doll in the back of it and run through the house as fast as you can. Good times...

 

QUOTE(Snittens @ May 15 2009, 12:23 AM) [snapback]1314285[/snapback]
Well now my tool ignorance is showing, they keep asking me what tool this is, and I'm like "uhhh.. .a wrench!" "But you said the last one was a wrench?" "ummm.. it's a different kind of wrench!" :lol: OK, I don't know my tools.

I have the same problem with construction equipment -- I don't know a backhoe from a bulldozer from a grader! (Especially because depending which book you read, several identical things are all called "backhoes" or simply "diggers." ) I keep thinking they should have a "Construction Equipment for Dummies" book for parents. I'd also buy the Tools for Dummies version -- I think everything is a wrench too. (In our defense, there are many different kinds of wrenches. )