Gender Stereotypes – Let Kids Be Kids!

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I recently read a story posted by Today Parents about a mom who transformed an American Girl doll into a boy for her son. Apparently her 6 year old son had been asking for an “American Boy” doll that looked like him, after seeing his 8 year old sister playing with a doll that looked just like her. Unfortunately, American Girl does not make boy dolls, aside from the Bitty Twins, which are babies. Of course, you can purchase other boy dolls but her son really wanted one from American Girl, and thought that company should offer a boy version. I have to say that I completely agree with this little boy 100% and fully support his mom’s decision in purchasing an American Girl doll to transform into the boy doll her son wanted. I’ve had some similar experiences with my sons, so I know exactly how she was feeling.

Gender Stereotypes - Let Kids Be KidsAt 3 and 4 years old, my boys absolutely love pretend play. They are total boys and love dinosaurs, dragons, vehicles, the Avengers, Ninja Turtles, and Power Rangers. But they also love Disney princesses, and anything that sparkles. For my son’s 4th birthday, he requested a Frozen themed party, complete with Princesses Anna and Elsa. So what did I do? I gave him want he wanted. I hung homemade snowflakes, made an elaborate Frozen cake, pulled together a Frozen themed food table, made custom Frozen food cards with sparkly blue and silver borders. I even hired the two Disney Princesses to come to our house and sing Frozen songs with the kids for 30 minutes. Of course, I heard all the gender stereotypes – “Why are you having a princess party for your son?” and “Princesses are for girls.” and at first those comments bothered me but then I realized that it didn’t matter what other people thought. What mattered was that my son was happy. The party was amazing and the kids had a blast. And you know what? ALL the little boys at the party were right there singing along with the girls to the Frozen songs. There were no gender stereotypes at this party!

DSC_0143Gender Stereotypes - Let Kids Be Kids - Frozen Party

For Christmas, my boys were asking for a house for their “guys”. Guys is what they call all of their dolls – male and female. Yes, my boys have female dolls. As I said, they love princesses. In our toy boxes you will find all of the Power Rangers, Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Rapunzel, Flynn, Princess Jasmine, Aladdin, Princess Aurora, Prince Phillip, and many more. I’m not going to tell my boys that they can’t have a specific toy because because society says it’s a “girl toy”.
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Gender Stereotypes - Let Kids Be Kids - Dolls For Boys

During my search to find a doll house for my boys, I was bombarded with lots of pink and very “girly” looking houses. It wasn’t even the pink that really bothered me. My boys love pink. This was just too much. These doll houses were clearly made for just girls to play with. When I typed in “Doll House For Boys”, firehouses and police stations came up. We already have the KidKraft Heroes Play Set, which is amazing by the way, but it only fits their smaller action figures. My boys wanted a real house that would fit their 12″ guys. The fact that I couldn’t find that made me extremely frustrated. Why is their not a gender neutral, more realistic doll house (that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg) available? Like the mom who wanted to give her son the American Girl doll he wanted, I wanted to be able to give my boys the doll house they wanted. I couldn’t find what I was looking for so I decided to go ahead and make it myself. I ended up purchasing the KidKraft Kayla Doll House, which is bright pink with a purple roof. I chose this doll house because I love KidKraft products. They are extremely durable and reasonably priced. Aside from the colors, it was exactly what I wanted, so I transformed it into a more realistic looking house for my boys. I pulled out my acrylic paints and turned the bright pink bricks into light blue bricks, similar to our own home. The purple shutters and roof were repainted a nice shade of grey, and the pink and purple flowers were transformed into red and orange marigolds. When my boys saw the doll house for the first time, their eyes lit up. They immediately grabbed their guys and started playing. The doll house is played with on a daily basis and has provided countless hours of fun.

Gender Stereotypes - Let Kids Be Kids - Doll House For BoysThere should be no such thing as boy toys and girl toys. Toys are toys and children should be able to play with whatever they want to play with, without the gender stereotypes hanging over their heads. We all just need to let kids be kids!

Once again, kuddos to Ivette Martinez-Matejko, the mom who transformed the American Girl doll into a boy for her son!  Great job, Mama! I would have done the same! Gender Stereotypes - Let Kids Be Kids
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