Being a mother of two boys, I’m being told they should have cars, footballs, love blue and get muddy. Why? Why can’t my boys like pink, play with dolls, want to bake and colour in? These stereotypes are archaic. My husband pushes my children in a pram; he changes nappies, just the same as I do. He wears pink when he feels like it and I wear blue when I want. He cooks and so do I. We both drive and have fun kicking around a football, so why can’t my boys?
My oldest son who is now almost 7 loves pink, love glitter, loves to play with teddies, some of which are Disney Princess’, yet loves to play football. This to me is how it should be. He loves doing these things, he shouldn’t be pigeonholed into only liking football and hating pink. Toys are toys, dolls are toys, and cars are toys. They shouldn’t be separated into boy and girl toys, they should just be toys for children, like the Internet gift store.
Both my boys have had buggies and loved pushing them around, yes I’ve had funny looks and people have asked if they are their sisters. No, they are not, they are their toy. They enjoy it and that’s the way I want to bring them up. Being themselves, being who they want to be and being well-rounded boys. Not ones who won’t cook or help look after their children when they are older. It’s no longer the woman’s job to cook, clean and look after the children; it’s a joint effort as should toys for role-playing reflect this.
Let’s get rid of these stereotypes and let our children just enjoy toys for what they are, toys to be played with and have fun. They grow up far too fast, enjoy our time playing with them instead of worrying about whether or not having a pink doll will change him into anything other than who he is going to be.
This post is protected under copyright. SusankMann 2009 – 2014
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