Maybe it's my age and my nostalgic memories of creating my own little
village of Lego when I was young that is clouding my judgement now.
Growing up I enjoyed building a
couple of cottages, a bakery, police station, fire station, hospital,
flower shop, bus station, school, fairground..... and supplementing this
with the train tracks and a little Lego train, a Lego bus and numerous
Lego cars.
Could you buy those things from the Lego shop at Legoland Windsor?
[ My review of LegoLand Windsor is here ]
No you could not. And it
seemed to be very boy / girl orientated. With, dare I say it, a
predominance of boy angled products. The front section was dominated by
Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Dino, and Ninjago, Lord of the
Rings, Kingdoms and Cars ranges. Then there was a VERY pink corner with
less lego and more Princess dressing-up products, hair slides and purses.
The brand new Friends range is creating a big stir with my girls, but,
not only is there not much in this range yet, I am also annoyed that the Lego
girls in these sets are suddenly taller and thinner. As if we didn't have enough overly slim role models?
The absolute joy
of Lego when I was young was that it wasn't stereotyped. It was neither
for girls, or for boys. The Lego people were differentiated only by
subtle variations to hair, skin colour and clothing colours. Now it seems that
this openness is gone. The colour scheme choices for the boxes aim to
direct certain box sets towards girls or boys. How incredibly typical is
it that the Friends range is in pink and purple?
I had a
browse of the Lego store website whilst writing this. Along with the
ranges mentioned above you've also got, Monster Fighters,
Technic, Hero Factory and Racers - all of which are aimed almost
exclusively at boys. Are boys really all about the fighting and the
monsters? What about the Lego for girls?
The only theme that looked, according to it's initial theme logo picture on the home page, non-gender specific was Creator
and there doesn't appear to be the types of sets I played with as a
child available anymore. You struggle to find a 'house' to make. And then the site crashed on me... so I suspect that's a sign that I should stop turning into a grumpy old woman.
But, really? Can't they release the classic 80s sets? Couldn't you get little Carousels and such like? Maybe that's an idea Lego? A retro range! Please! Now I get more than £2 pocket money a week I could actually finish that village. I'm thinking a post office, pharmacist, hair salon (multisex obviously), and church complete with church bells.
What Lego set would you want if you could select anything?
Showing posts with label boys and girls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boys and girls. Show all posts
Friday, 5 October 2012
Friday, 16 July 2010
Are boys really that aggressive when they're 6?
I've spent 2 hours of my afternoon in an indoor play centre. I assume they have similar places all over the UK, but here in the Midlands they seem to have replaced the 'garden' as the place to let your kids let off some steam. (I'm sure it's because we're paranoid about muck these days and won't let them play out if it's wet!)
My girls both love these play centres. But conditionally. The condition seems to be that there are practically no other children there, OR, that all other children in the place are the same age as them and preferably also girls.
I thought this slightly odd to start with. The first occasion we were in such a place and the elder came running up to tell me she wanted to go home, I thought it was a one-off occurrence. But she was adamant that they were "too many scary big boys". She clearly wasn't enjoying herself anymore, so we did, indeed, come home.
Today though I took the chance to have a good look around whilst we were there. I only had the elder with me, so I could take a breath! And I was fairly surprised to notice the level of aggression the young boys had. Do we really bring our children up to meet such stereotypes? Or are they just naturally like that, and we can't really do much about it, even if we wanted to?
The boys all dived into the 'football' area - of course. Again, stereotype? Who taught them that!? And proceeded to wallop the ball at each other, flinging their legs about in a manner which, I'm sorry, but even I could tell would warrant a red card and a comment about dangerous play. And then, when a ball accidentally whacked them in the head, they squared up to the boy who had kicked the ball and started shouting about how they could take them.
Really?
If it were girls, the offending girl would be apologising before the victim had chance to turn around, and the victim would no doubt say, as a result, "it's fine, thanks".
I guess I'm just so shocked that our boys have such anger inside them. And it made me wonder why? Is it our fault as parents? Or are they just dealt that hand of genes?
Just before we left, a girl, was being mercilessly teased by a bunch of about 5 boys. Well, I say teased, but that's far too tame. They were throwing (I toyed with 'chucking' there - and technically, up here in the North, that would be more accurate and, I'd argue, more representative of the manner of the throwing!). They were throwing those sponge shapes they have in these places; that are less like sponges and more like bricks when they hit you in the face; straight at this girl of about 7 or 8 years. She clearly knew them, and was defending herself well, and even attempting a few throws of her own. But then, the boy got too close, and the well aimed kick he received floored him for at least a minute.
I had too chuckle, even though it really, when you think about it, isn't that funny. But come on...I hear some of you say... Did he not ask for it!? If you start violence, should you not expect violence in return? Actually no. And that's why I teach my girls; no kicking, hitting or throwing at people. Because quite frankly it's dangerous, and I worry where it may lead.
Do mums of boys teach the boys that? Let me know. I'm intrigued. Do we really treat girls and boys so differently at such a young age?
Cor - that got a bit deep... sorry.... Back to being yummy next time I think. Tricks like washing your hair and getting the conditioner on so it can do it's thing while you scrub everything else. Or writing envelopes and thank you cards, whilst simultaneously talking on the phone.... I'm full of time saving multi-tasking me! Pity you can't cook dinner whilst sleeping... I'd like that one!
My girls both love these play centres. But conditionally. The condition seems to be that there are practically no other children there, OR, that all other children in the place are the same age as them and preferably also girls.
I thought this slightly odd to start with. The first occasion we were in such a place and the elder came running up to tell me she wanted to go home, I thought it was a one-off occurrence. But she was adamant that they were "too many scary big boys". She clearly wasn't enjoying herself anymore, so we did, indeed, come home.
Today though I took the chance to have a good look around whilst we were there. I only had the elder with me, so I could take a breath! And I was fairly surprised to notice the level of aggression the young boys had. Do we really bring our children up to meet such stereotypes? Or are they just naturally like that, and we can't really do much about it, even if we wanted to?
The boys all dived into the 'football' area - of course. Again, stereotype? Who taught them that!? And proceeded to wallop the ball at each other, flinging their legs about in a manner which, I'm sorry, but even I could tell would warrant a red card and a comment about dangerous play. And then, when a ball accidentally whacked them in the head, they squared up to the boy who had kicked the ball and started shouting about how they could take them.
Really?
If it were girls, the offending girl would be apologising before the victim had chance to turn around, and the victim would no doubt say, as a result, "it's fine, thanks".
I guess I'm just so shocked that our boys have such anger inside them. And it made me wonder why? Is it our fault as parents? Or are they just dealt that hand of genes?
Just before we left, a girl, was being mercilessly teased by a bunch of about 5 boys. Well, I say teased, but that's far too tame. They were throwing (I toyed with 'chucking' there - and technically, up here in the North, that would be more accurate and, I'd argue, more representative of the manner of the throwing!). They were throwing those sponge shapes they have in these places; that are less like sponges and more like bricks when they hit you in the face; straight at this girl of about 7 or 8 years. She clearly knew them, and was defending herself well, and even attempting a few throws of her own. But then, the boy got too close, and the well aimed kick he received floored him for at least a minute.
I had too chuckle, even though it really, when you think about it, isn't that funny. But come on...I hear some of you say... Did he not ask for it!? If you start violence, should you not expect violence in return? Actually no. And that's why I teach my girls; no kicking, hitting or throwing at people. Because quite frankly it's dangerous, and I worry where it may lead.
Do mums of boys teach the boys that? Let me know. I'm intrigued. Do we really treat girls and boys so differently at such a young age?
Cor - that got a bit deep... sorry.... Back to being yummy next time I think. Tricks like washing your hair and getting the conditioner on so it can do it's thing while you scrub everything else. Or writing envelopes and thank you cards, whilst simultaneously talking on the phone.... I'm full of time saving multi-tasking me! Pity you can't cook dinner whilst sleeping... I'd like that one!
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