Boys and dolls

My son who is now 25 has two sisters, so he often played with them even with their dolls. I have to say, my son grew up to be a wonderful father to his two children. He also played with action figures, and he doesn't have a violent bone in his body. I think any toys that develop imagination are good, besides they learn more violence from watching tv and playing video games than any doll could teach them.

This almost sound like gender bias here.. It has been imprinted in the minds of many people that boys should be strong and tough and any sign of femininity should judge them directly to be mama's boy or gay.. Is there anything wrong when a boy is soft-hearted? I'm speaking here in the side of the guys even if I'm a girl.. Boys playing with dolls shouldn't be a problem if I can see it, but in our minds it would show shame because he's a boy and he's playing with a doll, our society just couldn't accept it yet.. But I don't disagree with your objections.. I'm just stating that let us loosen our ties with the boys, you can really tell if a boy is a boy or not based on his actions..

Boys are taught to be macho, and that playing with dolls is wrong, so too is crying, so what happens when boys grow up they can't get rid or show their emotions by crying so they bottle them up, this turns to rage and frustration and then violence. No dolls or action men will promote violence. I played with A-team action men as a child, maybe not dolls, but I played with teddy bears and I'm certainly NOT violent. Not everyone who plays or watches violence turns out violent.

I've never quite understood forcing a child to play with a certain type of toy based on their being a boy or a girl. I guess I was lucky in that I've had both boys and girls to raise and never really paid much attention either way as to what it was they picked up to play with. I was a complete tomboy growing up, loved being a daredevil on my bike, played hockey, loved any sport (still do) and was basically as much a boy as I was a girl. I can assure you I am 110% woman! LOL I have no strange desires to become a man at any point in my life I am quite sure. My son was raised in a house of all sisters and a mom. He would sit with us and want his nails painted... so we did it. He's pretty darn far from being feminine at all and has showed a few too many signs that he prefer females! (Man Hussy I call him). I think to base play time and such on a child's gender is rather stupid. I'd love to find a man who cooks (a supposed female feature) as much as he enjoys sitting with me yelling at the tv watching a hockey game or football game! I think it just creates a well rounded person.

I'd be bothered if my son played with dolls too. It could be an early indication, but it wouldn't give a life threatening effect to say the least. I'd accept a gay son. It is odd how parents don't really care if their daughters played with male oriented toys. It's just probably another double standard.

My son is very fond of soft toys, dolls, teddys. i don't have any problem even if he plays with dolls. kids play with whatever attracts them. like my little fellow id fond of utensils also.

well its not a big problem because i use to play with dolls with my sister when i was a small child but then i realize what to do and got on the right track.

One day I saw my son playing with his little sister with her dolls. I asked him why are you playing with the doll? My 5 year old son told me what's wrong with me pretending to be a good Daddy like my Daddy? I said absolutely nothing. They play with each others toys they have so much fun together. He does not carry his sister's dolls around with him out in public when we go out he's only interested in boy toys.

I dont think it should be so wrong for boys to play with girls stuff or girls play with boys. My sister was a total tomboy growing up. She loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I dont think its that bad. Wow GI Joe?? As in the old toys? Wow talk about going way back. I dont think that kids, boys or not dealing with things with toys is all that bad. Boys or girls playing with toys associated with cartoons is gonna say more like role play. If you recall Sailor Moon? Girls toy, totally girls. I was into it and I still am. And it wasnt super not violent. For girls. You could probably place violence on many toys. Pokemon wasnt all too not violent either. Pets, pokemon hurting each other. Violence. My point being, most toys today, cartoons and such are gonna be in some way linked to violence. To sit around and say its bad for kids to play with some toys and not others is wrong. Just teach your kids to not be violent or too violent. I guess thats all there is to it.

I have a two year old boy and when he goes to play sessions if he picks up a doll I do not have a problem at all... I think if I try to prevent him playing with it he will no doubt want it more! I think while children are young it is fine, don't quite know what I would do if he was still playing with them when he is fifteen..??? I feel by the time he goes to school he will learn for himself that playing with certain items isn't cool!! And he will make his own decisions.

My son has a cabbage patch doll and a harder plastic doll which he can put in the bath tub. We are expecting a baby in a few months so for him its more then just a toy, hes dressing it in the baby clothes and we are using it to teach him about babies and what they do. He even diapers and feeds his baby. There is nothing wrong with little boys having dolls. Its all make believe and it encourages their imagination. Thats never wrong :)

I always want my children to experience new things and I never want my children to do something simply because it is expected of their gender. My two daughters play sports right now, they are 8 and 11. I also have an 18 month old son who plays with whatever sparks his imagination, cars, trains and, yes, even dolls. He got his first baby doll for Christmas last year and does play with it. I don't push him to play with it but I am not going to say something ignorant like "Boys don't play with dolls". I believe that pretending to care for a baby or a stuffed animal will help him, right now to learn how to be kind to other children, and later on, to be a better father and human being in general. I just don't believe that toys should be labled as "gender specific" for children. When I was a child I loved to play with Hot Wheels and other things that were "boy-toys" and I got picked on for it, it is ridiculous.

I have an almost 2 year old son that has dolls and it doesnt bother me one bit, he loves them and doesnt play with them all the time but he does like them. He also has a baby sister that he loves on to. A boy playing with a doll doesnt make him weak.

I was a preschool teacher for a while. We had a co-ed population, and it was difficult (almost impossible really) to keep toys gender specific. So, girls played with more masculine toys, and the boys played with dolls. Some parents did have a problem with it. I didn't though. The boys were learning how to be nurturing fathers, as I could see. I also found that it helped for big brothers to learn how to be "gentle with the new baby", without having to practice on a real infant. The girls were also developing skills (mostly physical) that they wouldn't if they'd been restricted to "feminine" toys. As for action figures, I had plenty when I was younger (yeah, I'm a girl, but I was a bit of a tomboy). I played with he-man and the ninja turtles, and GI Joe, etc. I don't tend to be a violent person, and I don't think that any anger I ever did have came from my action figures (but rather from my upbringing). I did sometimes have my action figures do violent things, like what I saw on TV. But, that allowed me to get my aggression out on something that I knew wasn't alive. It also helped develop my imagination, and work out problems by acting them out. Anyway, hope that helps/contributes something useful in some way. :)

I personally do not have a problem with my son playing with dolls. He has a baby Cabbage Patch doll and he just loves him. My son plays with both "girls" and "boys" toys. He loves Transformers, trucks and ninja turtles, but he also enjoys playing with his sisters My Little Ponies. My son is not violent at all and he loves his action figures. My daughter on the other hand has never liked barbies, princesses or anything like that. Until she was 5 her favorite toys were dinosaurs. Now she will play with Ponies and Littlest Pet Shop, but no other girly type toys. I don't have a problem with either of my kids playing with toys geared towards the oppposite gender. As long as they are happy that is all that matters to me. My brother and boyfriend both had Cabbage Patch dolls growing up and they are now both normal, grown men.

I grew up with two sisters,and spent most of my time with them playing house and what not,with plenty of dolls,both my sister and myself now collect dolls. and for those that believe this makes me a sissy,let me show you the medals I earned in Viet Nam. I am now 60 years old and have a pretty good collection of older dolls. Thank you for a good discussion.

I've worked with kids of all ages while I was a teacher and every boy in my classes from age 1-5 played with a doll at some point. If the parents came in during that time they would often freak out about it. I would explain that every boy in there did it. My oldest son is now 5, his 2 favorite "dolls" when he was younger were 1 that was a Bob the Builder doll and one that was a stuffed Rottweiler (like our real one) and nobody said anything about it because those were more boyish. My 2 yr old has a little boy doll that he carries almost everywhere. Luckily my husband sees nothing wrong with it and has even drove 20 miles round trip to go get the baby when left at my dad's, because our son couldn't sleep. Both boys also love tools, trucks, tractors and everything else most boys do.

I don't think a lot of people realise that the dolls and action figures both lead to imagination and help children act out what is bothering them. It's all a part of dramatic play. They work out a lot of issues through this type of play. It helps them sort out what they see in their environment all the time (more specifically dramatic play and toys including dolls, not necessarly action figures) and how it relates to them. I think boys playing with dolls is a good thing. I think it teaches them a lot about how to treat women and how to treat other children.

Isn't it good that boys do play with dolls and girls play with male oriented toys? The main point is, this will make boys more sensible to girls and will behave differently with them. You wouldn't want guys to treat girls in the same manner they treat their boy-friends. Similarly, girls will be a bit more tougher in life and will have the confidence and attitude to compete with anyone else. Childhood sows the seed for the future of their life. So, these minor, simple steps go a long way. But, the catch is, it should not be forced on the kids, but, let the kids enjoy what they want to do.

Both my sons, especially my youngest has played with dolls. I'm talking about 'girly' dolls such as ones that look like babies, not the GI Joe type. I think it's good for kids of both genders to learn to take care of babies as one day they may be parents (or even big brothers/big sisters), and one of the best 'tools' to use are dolls to help them learn, in my opinion.