Just got back from a baby shower. It was for a childhood friend of my daughter's. S is 24, married to a great guy. They own a beautiful home, four bedrooms, three baths, inground pool, deck, finished basement. It is a lovely home filled with love, two happy young people waiting for their first child to be born. It's a beautiful thing to see them at this stage prepared for this precious baby boy.
I remember S as a small girl playing with baby dolls. She loved her baby dolls. My daughter played with Barbies. Baby dolls were not her cup of tea.
That started to replay memories of other young girls who played with baby dolls. These young girls all turned out to be young moms. Some married as S some not.
So my question is do we as mom's and as a society push motherhood on young girls by giving them certain toys such as the baby dolls and making this seem all important. You are a girl, you have a doll, grow older have a baby. What if young girls were given toy planes, trains, bluilding blocks, books, medicial kits, plant and science kits instead of dolls? Would their expections be higher or different? Little boys are not given dolls to practice on so they can learn to burp, feed and change diapers when they become daddies. They are not given kitchen sets, pots and pans, sweepers, vaccums, tea sets so they can learn to keep house. They are given tools, planes, trains, cars, hammers, camaras so they can learn to make a practical living. Are we short changing our daughters by still giving them domestic toys, this isn't 1950 and women don't stay home all day and bake, do little girls really need an Easy Bake Oven? What about giving them Legos so they can build an office building, a bridge, a road, a school, hosptial instead? What about a small science kit or a solar kit to study the stars?
I have two granddaughters they will not be given an Easy Bake Oven from their GG, perhaps a science set or a medical kit.
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