Hellobee Boards

Posting the pic for the lazy... Love this ad!

I love this!

I've read articles that talk about how when they make a "Girl's version" of a toy, there are often fewer pieces, they are less complicated/challenging, and focus on things like caretaking of babies and animals, as opposed to building and engineering. I love the idea that girls are just as capable of building and creating as boys- because it's true!

It reminds me of this flow chart I saw circulating on the internet a few months ago- it made me chuckle, but it is pretty truthful!

I prefer that ad and the basic lego product to the girl version, but I don't think it is bad to offer the girl version. I think there is a demand and appeal to certain parts of the population. I like the idea of giving kids a choice in which items they are drawn to and want to play with.

Love the ad.

The main problem I have with a lot of toys is not that they're gendered, but that they're ridiculous. This applies to toys marketed to boys and girls.

As to the Lego ad, I generally love Legos--I'm not even offended by the elaborate building sets they have these days because they all come apart to become whatever you want--and I wasn't finding anything really objectionable about the "Lego Friends" series until I ran across set that featured a purple sea turtle wearing a bow on its head. I don't see the point of that.

I'm all for imaginative play, but I think that if a child wants a purple Lego turtle, they can build a purple Lego turtle. (I realize this was hard before the Lego Friends series because there weren't any purple bricks!) But to give a kid a purple turtle to play with is a little strange to me, whether they're a boy or a girl.

The best part of Legos, as the ad from the '80s suggests, is that you're not very constrained by the preconceived notions of the adults who designed the set. My son is really into Legos and it has been my observation that the parts of the sets he has that are played with the least are the ones that are essentially static, like the minifigure dolls and the one-piece animals.

It shocks me that number of toys that used to just come one way when I was younger, now come in gender specific. It makes me really sad. For N's first birthday we were looking everywhere for a cozy coup, only to find that most stores had a lot of the "girl" (purple and pink) ones in stock and all the "boy" (yellow and red style) where sold out. So part of me hopes parents are fighting back against gender stereotyping. My brother and I had loads of toys that we shared and my parents didn't buy Barbie Dolls and the like until I asked for them.

DH and I encourage a lot of music play and imagination play, we are hoping to hold off on gender specific toys as long as possible. Lucky for us our families are completely on board.