Hiperregalos, how to avoid giving sexist toys?

With the Three Wise Men hovering around the house, we wonder what toy is best suited for each child. And year after year it reopens the controversy over whether the toys are for children, for girls or for both. The key is not to catalog children in large groups (boys and girls, nervous and calm, older and younger ...) You always have to think of each of them as individual beings. It is necessary to think what they like, what they have fun with, what they make happy. And not so much if it's a boy or a girl.

This exercise should be done with each of the children and not fall into the error of thinking that, as the older one liked a certain toy, the child will also like it and more if they are of the same sex. They may be of the same sex, but have different tastes or characters. This reflection should not only be done by parents at home, but teachers should take it into account day by day in their classrooms. In this way, we are much fairer with each of them and we do not condition or rely on social stereotypes.

When we are not clear about what you may like or we are facing a new toy about which we may have doubts about whether they can fit, it is advisable to give them the opportunity to explore it, know it and discover for themselves if they like it or not.

The same toys for everyone

In the children's classrooms, when they are still developing and knowing themselves, the teachers offer the same toys for all and try to have a lot of variety. This means that they can be found in the classroom with games of the following type:

Cookies: Although not so much in today's society, it has traditionally been a gift for girls. However, it is a game that appeals to children of all ages, regardless of sex.

Cars, means of transport: of more masculine orientation, but also very like the girls who enjoy the movement.

Movement games or psychomotricity: they tend to enjoy more those children who have specially developed motor skills or require a lot of constant movement in their day to day.

Cognitive activities (paint, read, puzzles, sewing, etc.): those children who have skills in this line tend to choose them. In general, they tend to be more girls than boys, but there are also great male artists with a lot of sensitivity who demand these moments of tranquility.

Dolls, symbolic game of representation of the home or 'moms and dads': it is usually chosen by girls, but not exclusively.

Toys, yes, but customized

With all these examples we want to convey that the choice of the game or the toy always has to be centered on the person who is going to give it away and then try to always give everyone the same opportunity to enjoy all kinds of toys. This way we will know what they really like and we can respect them and be fairer with them.

In addition to all this, and taking into account, in the first place, the individuality of the child, what is remarkable is the tendency that, in a general way, each group of children usually has depending on sex and, therefore, the possible differences between they. Therefore, not because they are boys or girls, they should not be given the same opportunities, but neither should the differences between them be overlooked, since they already provide a series of individual and personal qualities that are interesting to consider. .

This means that, without resorting to very professional studies, simply doing an observational exercise among children in a very global way, you can see differences between them that help to describe their personality more.

Any family that has more than one child and, of different sexes, or any teacher that observes the behavior in the classroom, will be able to see how, in spite of giving the same opportunities to all children, in terms of toys and games, so that they can have fun or entertain, most of them, depending on sex, tend to choose them because, in general, those of the same sex have very similar qualities in their way of being as people.

Hence, it is usual to generate stereotypes such as the following: children like more movement activities, or more warlike games because they are more "moved". Or that girls like quieter games in which the social relationship or communication predominates.

In conclusion, it could be said that differences among them exist in a generalized way so it is interesting to take them into account in order to know them better and offer them what is more in keeping with their way of being or their tastes and interests. But this does not mean that all children or all girls are equal.Therefore, the best advice, in order to know what games they can use, is to think about each one of our children and try to give them the best individually and personally, without denying them to play games that have been socially cataloged. sex contrary to what our son or daughter is.

Are toys sexist?

Let's review the toys that come to each house this Christmas. The dolls are not all girls anymore, there are boys and girls, of different races, but the children still do not ask for them in the letters. The small metal cars have changed their appearance very little for decades. The territory is eminently masculine. And the colors and designs too.

There are plastic balls of all types, but there is a differentiation between boys and girls. Or they are from the battery of fairy princesses, or superheroes. Few neutrals, except some ball of the world. When we go to the balls, they are sports, with the logos of competitions and teams.

We arrive at construction toys, intermediate, mixed, suitable for boys and girls. But here the market has played differentiation and won. For them, policemen, futuristic and medieval designs. For them, princesses or sophisticated teenagers in consumer environments-the clothing store, the ice cream parlor, the beach house? Again, boys or girls.

In bicycles, except very childish ones, a greater "equality" is perceived in the designs. Maybe because someone is more likely to inherit. But today they have defined colors the skates, the scooters, the helmets and the protections. It is so difficult to find a child's jersey as a pink regulation ball.

What is it before? Pink or blue

Does the market differ because the client-child demands it, or the little alert children end up assuming the distance between pink and blue because the market forces them? The experts do not agree and there are studies supported scientifically in both directions.

If we go to the bottom of the matter, perhaps it is worth understanding an important nuance: children have and will have different nuances of behavior during their development that make them prefer, in most cases, certain games. The differentiation in toys is nothing more than an adaptation to natural game modes. However, there is a perverse effect when this differentiation pigeonholes the roles of men and women and blurs equality in substance even in the difference between the sexes.

María Campo Martínez. Director NClic-Kimba

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Video: El Hiperregalo