You Can Give a Boy a Doll, but You Can't Make Him Play With It

[Warpy]

1. Smart parents give the kids what they want.

I remember in the "raising androgynous kids" era of the late 60s and early 70s, parents would give a variety of toys to both sexes. Little girls would wrap a Tonka truck in a blankie and little boys would grab Barbie by her feet, point her head at you and yell "BANG!"

I'm talking preschoolers here, kids who really hadn't had a chance to be inducted into the larger kid culture. I hate to admit it and so did my friends with kids, but some of this early stuff seems to be hard wired.

However, there is a huge amount of deviation from the social norms even with the very young kids. It also has a limited lifespan and a lot of the kids I knew who were rigidly sex typed as children have grown out of it into adults with non traditional jobs.

The best thing is to watch your kids and listen to them and get them what they like. It saves money and aggravation and, as when my parents found a full Betsy Wetsy doll in the middle of their bed one Xmas night, property damage.

The next year, I got the chemistry set I asked for.