Friday morning I read the Metro and I was a little more than outraged, and let's put aside the fact that it's a piece of junk sometimes anyways and focus on the point:
Metro had their gift-giving guide and they had some interesting, to say the least, options for kids. Let's play a game of spot the difference... For the girls they had a Hello Kitty guitar, dolls, a teacup piggie thing, a LeapFrog Discover House, a jewellery making kit, a hair accessories kits and a little mini kitchen. Meanwhile the "Toy story for boys" had a LeapPad explorer, gross-abulary (a game designed to help your child learn new words), a bicycle, books, Smart Labs Weird & Wacky Contraption Lab, Songs Just for Me Personalized CD, a Cranium brain teaser and then some general toys such as a Star Wars Lego character encyclopedia, some RC animal toys, cars, and Angry Birds plushies.
While I appreciate the guitar and the Discovery House, why are we not able to suggest the same number of toys that have educations qualities for girls as we can suggest for boys? Or maybe I should ask why there aren't more toys that have been specifically designed for and targeted to girls that offer similar qualities. How can we expect our girls to be on equal footing if the toys we offer them don't have the same brain-training capabilities that the boys' toys do? Why is this still appropriate?
The documentary MissRepresentation briefly discussed the fact that at 7 years of age the same number of girls as boys want to grow up to become President, but if you ask the same question 15 year olds, the gap between boys and girls is dramatic. This may have more to do with all of the media messaging and crap being thrown at them on a day-to-day basis that says girls will still be judged by their looks before their intelligence. I feel like more people will question this practice if we can get them all on the same page to start out. We need to encourage our girls just as much as we encourage our boys to be as bright as their potential. We need to change what's currently set out for them.
I know it's less than a week to Christmas so it may be too late but if you haven't finished your shopping yet do me one solid: promise that you'll break the gender norms and encourage your kids (and any kids you buy for) to play with all the toys. Your sons should feel just as comfortable in a kitchen as with a toolbox and your daughter should feel just as comfortable playing with science goo as they are with redressing their dolls. And they should all be given books, bicycles, cool science experiments and awesome music things.
Metro had their gift-giving guide and they had some interesting, to say the least, options for kids. Let's play a game of spot the difference... For the girls they had a Hello Kitty guitar, dolls, a teacup piggie thing, a LeapFrog Discover House, a jewellery making kit, a hair accessories kits and a little mini kitchen. Meanwhile the "Toy story for boys" had a LeapPad explorer, gross-abulary (a game designed to help your child learn new words), a bicycle, books, Smart Labs Weird & Wacky Contraption Lab, Songs Just for Me Personalized CD, a Cranium brain teaser and then some general toys such as a Star Wars Lego character encyclopedia, some RC animal toys, cars, and Angry Birds plushies.
While I appreciate the guitar and the Discovery House, why are we not able to suggest the same number of toys that have educations qualities for girls as we can suggest for boys? Or maybe I should ask why there aren't more toys that have been specifically designed for and targeted to girls that offer similar qualities. How can we expect our girls to be on equal footing if the toys we offer them don't have the same brain-training capabilities that the boys' toys do? Why is this still appropriate?
The documentary MissRepresentation briefly discussed the fact that at 7 years of age the same number of girls as boys want to grow up to become President, but if you ask the same question 15 year olds, the gap between boys and girls is dramatic. This may have more to do with all of the media messaging and crap being thrown at them on a day-to-day basis that says girls will still be judged by their looks before their intelligence. I feel like more people will question this practice if we can get them all on the same page to start out. We need to encourage our girls just as much as we encourage our boys to be as bright as their potential. We need to change what's currently set out for them.
I know it's less than a week to Christmas so it may be too late but if you haven't finished your shopping yet do me one solid: promise that you'll break the gender norms and encourage your kids (and any kids you buy for) to play with all the toys. Your sons should feel just as comfortable in a kitchen as with a toolbox and your daughter should feel just as comfortable playing with science goo as they are with redressing their dolls. And they should all be given books, bicycles, cool science experiments and awesome music things.
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