TOYS
Should boys play with guns and girls play with dolls? Or, putting it differently, should boys play with dolls and girls play with toy guns? there's an excellent deal of debate on the topic of toys and gender stereotyping, with people considerably divided into one camp or another. there's certainly no escaping the very fact that, regardless of where you look, items related to boys will generally have images of football, the army, or superheroes, with copious amounts of blue to stress the very fact that this is often all for boys, whilst the girls' sections are going to be adorned with glamorous icons, fairies, and flowers, with pink daubed wherever possible.
But is that right? Do children tend to become drawn towards these colors and pictures because they're told to by society from the day they're born or do they need naturally different tendencies that are so deep-seated and established that our social and cultural stereotypes are actually nothing quite an outward reflection of that understanding?
It is, certainly, very difficult to answer the question with any degree of certainty, and there are much debate and far evidence on each side to suggest that everyone is valid. Perhaps, however, there's a more important point to boost, which is this: should boys be allowed to love pink things, play with dolls and have tea parties, whilst girls are allowed to wear blue, kick a football around and pretend to shoot their friends in an imaginary battle?
Anyone who has, or has had children, is going to be aware that children play with whatever they find around them, and at a really early age, their curiosity is going to be hospitable whatever is out there. the very fact that they're generally bought blue toys if they're a boy, and pink for a woman, will simply mean that as they develop they'll tend to associate those colors and designs as representing their ownership, but if a mix of toys is out there, then they're going to haven't any more care of the color than if the toy in question is your expensive mobile or the restroom brush. Whatever is handy becomes a toy within the hands of an infant.
My little boy has often played tea parties together with his various teddy bears, and therefore the beautifully multicultural scene of a little boy sharing his tea with a bear, a donkey, a sheep a creature from space, and a giraffe seems perfectly harmless to me. Later on, he'll probably use one among them to beat up a dog or use to face on so as to succeed in something he is not allowed. he is not sufficiently old yet to either understand what a gun is or to possess been given one as a toy. But even now, I feel that slight anxiousness about whether I might actually buy him a gun, or let him feel drawn towards one.
When I was growing up, I had a cowboy outfit, several cap guns, and an outsized box of toy soldiers. My sister had endless numbers of toy dolls that did everything from shutting their eyes to wet their nappies, and that we each seemed content with our own toys, and neither folks had considerable interest within the others'. And yet, I can consider no good reason why not. The social skills she practiced are even as relevant to me today, even as the will to survive has relevance to her.
Perhaps the answer is to let the kid come to the toys, instead of forcing toys upon the kid, but to permit the kid-free reign to settle on people who feel right to them. Where this sense will come from is another matter, and positively, a diet of television will do little to eradicate any social stereotyping which will exist.
