Buying your son a doll for christmas...

[1911ly]

I just ran across this. I don't know what I think. Maybe I am narrow minded. OK I'll concede I am a lot narrow minded about today's methods of child rearing.

I'm Giving My Son a Doll for Christmas

This gal also lets her boy wear her makeup. If I say something against her am I narrow minded? I can see a doll orientated towards boy play like GI Joe's etc. Am I a bad parent if I steer my child towards gender bias toys of his or her gender? If I steer my boy to be a boy? Girl to be a girl? I am old school and I do this.

My mind set: I want my boy to be a boy. My girl to be a girl. I have surround them with gender biased things. If they show tendency's towards the opposite gender I discourage it. If they are serious about there choices I'll eventually loose. I'll except my child either way. But I am not going to expose him to something gender opposite intentionally. Does this make me a bad parent?

BTW: My children aren't gender confused. We aren't having these trouble's. But I know people that have had these issues. Seems to be more of an issue now then 32 years ago when I raised my first child.

Don't turn this in a to a gay bashing thing. I am not anti gay. I am just curious how other parents deal matters like this.

 

[yote hunter]

Wrong just wrong.... Boys don't play with dolls and putting make-up on your son... WTH !!!!

 

[SSGSAD]

I heard something on the radio the other day, about buying or not buying NON Gender specific toys, or gifts, for Christmas presents .....

 

[mrjarrell]

Sounds like the 2 year old in the article might like a doll. If he doesn't like it, he won't play with it. As for the kid getting into moms makeup, that's really not odd in little kids. Maybe he'll grow up to be a member of KISS 2.0. At 2 kids just want what they want. They aren't hung up on gender like some parents are. I see nothing to worry about. Hell, I wish my parents had bought me an Easy Bake Oven when I was a kid, but they never did. I'd have loved it. Baking my own cakes and cookies.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Doesn't bother me one bit. My daughter played with diecast cars, shot guns, played video games with me till all hours of the night, scurried down in the crawl space all muddy to help me fix stuff, dug ditches and set gutters, helped me fix the car/house/whatever.
My son has equally played with dolls, played dress up, painted my toenails while I was asleep (with the helps of his sister), probably wore make-up once or twice, etc etc etc
The toys they play with aren't as influential as the parents they live with methinks. I'd like to think my wife and I are well balanced. There are certainly some things we're better at compared to one another. But we certainly don't mind helping out with the other's chores/roles. I think our kids see that.
How it 'defines' their sexuality is beyond me, and quite frankly, is entirely their own business imo.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Who cares? I played with dolls with girl relatives. Didn't seem to impact me much. They are just toys and kids are just kids.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

I have no problem steering my daughter towards feminine toys, I would push my son towards masculine toys. I'm of the mind that boys are boys and girls are girls, this neutering of boys is a lot of the problem we are seeing with the up and coming metrosexuals. They have no work ethic, are amoral, apathetic and well worthless.

I was taught that when you shake another man's hand you look him in the eye and apply a firm grip. These ****ies that shake hands with a limp wrist and walk without pride, **** me off. When you encourage a boy to play with dolls and make-up it confuses their identity.

Now before you get your underoos in a bunch, it is normal course for girls to play cars and boys to to play with dolls or whatever. It is wrong to encourage it. Would I stop them? Depends on the situation and circumstances.

 

[snafu21]

I had dolls as a child and I'm sure a lot of others had them... Stretch Armstrong, G.I. Joe, 6 Million Dollar man (With bionic eye), Super Man, and many others....

The mother in the story just wanted a daughter and is trying to treat him as such. But if given the choice with no influence from anyone else, he chose to play with a Barbi over a Tonka Truck, who cares? I think the make-up is overboard, even if the child was female at that age.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

6 Million Dollar man (With bionic eye and the Kung Fu Grip)

Good times.....

 

[VN Vet]

The devil is getting a big hold on our Country. I'm afraid there will be a devilish price to be paid for our Nation's corruption.

Have you all seen the movie "Needful Things"? Watch it.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I was taught that when you shake another man's hand you look him in the eye and apply a firm grip. These ****ies that shake hands with a limp wrist and walk without pride, **** me off.

2 year olds generally lack the necessary grip strength for a manly handshake.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

2 year olds generally lack the necessary grip strength for a manly handshake.

See? That's how it starts. You make excuses for your kid and the next thing you know he's gonna ask for the double DVD set of "The Best of Musical Theater" for Christmas.

 

[hopper68]

I had dolls as a child and I'm sure a lot of others had them... Stretch Armstrong, G.I. Joe, 6 Million Dollar man (With bionic eye), Super Man, and many others....

The mother in the story just wanted a daughter and is trying to treat him as such. But if given the choice with no influence from anyone else, he chose to play with a Barbi over a Tonka Truck, who cares? I think the make-up is overboard, even if the child was female at that age.

Those were not dolls, those were action figures!!! And I had Lone Ranger and Silver.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Steering or gently suggesting is not wrong. FORCING is wrong. Like many said, ultimately what they are and what they want will win out in the end. The most important thing is they have good solid role models ON BOTH SIDES OF THE GENDER AISLE to show them the way. They will be who they are regardless.

I'm glad I was allowed to explore. I learned alot and thanks to that lack of forced gender roles, I'm a damn good cook, I can sew, and I can WORK IT ON THE CATWALK!

If my son asked for a doll, so what. we all played with dolls. We guys just called them action figures.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

2 year olds generally lack the necessary grip strength for a manly handshake.

Point taken, sir. That's an important age where one begins to define right, wrong, up, down...

 

[hoosierdoc]

There is nothing wrong with boys playing with dolls. Even barbies. It's all make believe. If parents are pushing them towards feminine behavior and dress,that is a problem. Let their imagination run wild in a diverse set of circumstances. We know of someone who routinely dresses their boy up in dresses, always is a princess for halloween, etc. Much different than a boy playing with dolls.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

2 year olds generally lack the necessary grip strength for a manly handshake.

Well, I don't know... my 5 month old grand daughter's grip is darn near strong enough for me to pick her up with her just hanging on to my finger.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Lots of open minded people here. I'm impressed, but I haven't grown as much as you guys. If I found my son playing with Barbie dolls, I'd thrown it on the grill.

 

[Expat]

I am old and will not become sufficiently enlightened to ever allow my grandsons to play with dolls at my house.

 

[Birds Away]

My son is 28. If he wants a doll his wife can buy him one.