Mums say there is no problem with boys playing with dolls’ houses

There is no escaping the fact that dolls’ houses were once seen as the preserve of little girls, with the only male involvement being that of fathers and grandfathers sometimes making the houses and dolls’ house furniture out in their workshops or sheds. Nowadays, however, these old ways of thinking appear to have disappeared as parents no longer worry about gender specific toys and allow their children the freedom to play, learn and explore life for themselves.

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Earlier today I asked our Facebook followers to comment upon this subject. Many of our followers are mums of small children, so their opinion on this subject is both interesting and pertinent. So far all comments have been extremely positive and show (albeit unscientifically) that many of today’s mums have no problem whatsoever allowing their sons to play with dolls’ houses.

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Our mums consistently state that they would not restrict the toys that their children play with. In the same way that they would not discourage their daughters from playing with a toy garage or toy toolbox they would never stop their sons from playing with a dolls’ house, play kitchen or dolls and buggies. Refreshingly, these mums appear to feel passionately that they do not wish to reinforce old fashioned stereotypes about gender whilst at the same time wishing to positively encourage their children to learn through play and to experience all aspects of life.

With reference to dolls’ house play, one person commented that children playing with dolls’ houses could be “our future interior designers, architects and estate agents” while another observed that when she helps out at her son’s nursery school she often sees a lot of boys playing with the dolls’ houses and prams. Another mum told us about her 18 year old son, about to start his second year at catering college, who asked for a buggy and toy kitchen for his third Christmas.

Boys

So mums are very relaxed about the toys their children choose to play with. One commenter mentioned that her other half was not as relaxed as her about their son playing with prams etcetera, but that “Daddy is coming round to the idea”. The same person stated that most of her son’s toys could not be described as gender-specific, which for us is a refreshing attitude. Last year the world famous toy store Hamley’s generated a lot of publicity when they ceased identifying their floors with pink for girls and blue for boys. This publicity was by no means all positive, as many media columnists expressed differing opinions on the rights and wrongs of what some termed “gender apartheid”. It would appear that not all parents feel as strongly as some of these media commentators.

I recently spoke with a mum of twins (one girl, one boy) about her daughter’s toys and what she felt about how many of them were coloured pink. This mum explained to me that while she was clearly aware of the predominance of pink, she had noticed that her daughter had come through her ‘pink stage’ and was now enthusiastically embracing lots of other colours. Mum was enjoying watching her daughter discovering new colours and she felt that she didn’t need to worry about pink, or red, or blue, or green or any other colour for that matter. She trusted her daughter to make her own choices. In the same way, she was totally okay with her daughter playing with whatever toys she picked out of the toy box. The play room contained a dolls’ house, play kitchen, toy garage, cars, tractors, dolls in cradles, train sets and lots of other toys and the twins enjoyed playing with all of these toys, both separately and together.

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Another mum on our Facebook page stated that if you tell children that “house and ‘babies’ are for girls only” then this is the beginning of dividing jobs and roles and responsibilities by gender, whereas in fact “all jobs can be done equally well” by either sex.

Speaking along the same lines, yet another mum put it succinctly: “toys are toys at the end of the day...(and almost)...all encourage learning and exploring”. She felt that children should know the difference between the sexes, but that they should always be aware that men and women are equal.

So our very small and unscientific survey has revealed a very positive attitude to toys of all shapes and sizes from customers at WoodenToyShop. While everyone was aware of the danger of gender stereotyping, most mums were relaxed enough to allow their children to learn and explore through play and not to restrict the toys they play with. Whether it’s a dolls’ house, toy castle, pirate ship, toy kitchen or shop, children of both sexes will play with whatever comes to hand, will learn and develop equally and eventually become a person of their own making.