The gendering of children's toys
My son is celebrating his sixth birthday on Thursday and is really interested in building houses. I wanted to get him some lego, ie, either a build a house kit or else some generic blocks that he can do what he likes with. Australian department stores however seem to have a very rigid demarcation between toys for girls and toys for boys. This demarcation extends to the Lego aisle where the "boy" lego kits seem to be limited a range of masculine looking vehicles or Star Wars spacecraft. Only David Jones seems to have any house building kits and these are all in pink because, presumably (and quite bizarrely), only girls are interested in houses. I know that Lego does make gender-neutral house building kits as I have seen them overseas. Australian toy buyers mustn't see fit to import these items however as it might cause havoc with their "pink" and "blue" toy classifications. David Jones has also seen fit to stock a range of pink dolls houses, presumably again because only girls are interested in these items. The designated "boys" toys include things like Thomas the Tank Engine train sets and other merchandise type toys that my son has no interest in. I am imagine that parents with daughters who are interested in space, for instance, would feel similarly frustrated. I ended up going to the post office and buying him some art supplies and a toy dragon and will ask my mother in law to bring over a non-pink Lego house kit when she comes from overseas in a few weeks. It is highly annoying though.
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My biggest thing with the lego is that they cost a fortune. Though I know my wife would find them somewhere for dirt cheap on sale. It's her mutant power ;-)
Check out my childhood creations
GIJOE base?
Transformers base
I think all toys should be gender neutral - let kids play with what they want.
I'm pretty sure it's all about the money - we can't let one toy do for both kids, gotta buy the boy version and the girl version! Gah.
Or some kits in reasonable colors, but get rid of the proposed pattern... and then you can just make anything with them.
(I bought masses of them used for my girl, and it was fine.)
Cool!
We normally get our lego duty free from the island that cannot be named. It is heaps cheaper than normal retail.
the kits are quite expensive for what you get though. I actually just found someone selling rip-off lego on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-KIDS-BUILDING-BLOCKS-CITY-HOUSE-SET-FITS-LEGO-TOYS_W0QQitemZ120391813094QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Toys_Hobbies_Building_Toys?hash=item120391813094&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
I wonder what this would be like.
Do you remember Lincoln Logs? I just checked at Amazon.com & there are a lot of different house/ranch, etc. sets. Maybe something like that would work for your son.
I sell Lego. I have an online Lego shop, where that is all I sell. Most of it is used and in good condition. I agree fully that the new Lego in stores is outrageously priced, and that is one thing I like about what I do. I get emails all the time from grateful parents, saying they appreciate my prices and that I sell just the minifigures, which you cannot buy in a store, only in sets.
Come by my shop, I bet we can get you pieces for a boys house that is not all pink! It would be custom made by Kzinti (hubby), who is the one making those types of things. He could send a photo and a price for ya! A link to my shop is on my page.
http://www.minimeeshop.com
I have had to stop buying from the US as the exchange rate not very favourable for us at the moment. Also find that the cost of the postage tends to outweigh any savings that might be had. Thanks though.
Was tidying the boys room over the weekend, though, and they have soooooo much Lego. I would be more than happy to scoop up a big chunk of the basics and send them to you.