We’ve done our best to ensure that Meg and Calvin don’t get pigeon-holed into gender-specific stereotypes. That is to say, “princesses” were largely avoided for the first few years of Meg’s life (can’t avoid them now). We avoided pink clothes and toys for Meg early on (again…hard to avoid…). There were some toys that Meg fell into, like “Julia” (her doll that she was inseparable from for a few years), that weren’t exactly “gender neutral,” but we also made sure Calvin had a doll to play with (which he largely hasn’t). The idea was to allow them to choose the toys they want to play with without filling their rooms with princesses and superheroes, respectively.
Weirdly, though, Calvin likes cars. Always has.
Our house is near a relatively busy road, so shortly after he started walking, he made his way near that street. One of his first words was “cars,” followed shortly thereafter by “trucks.” Many afternoons, waiting for Mama to get home, Calvin and I sat on the corner waiting for her to drive up, listening for cars about to come up over the hill.
Since then, he’s liked playing with toy cars (including two small ones he fell asleep with tonight), he likes watching rally car racing on YouTube, and he’ll even watch me play Gran Turismo 6 with a PS3 controller in his hand.
It’s just one of those things we think about. With Meg, she’s started gravitating in the direction of princesses slowly over time as she’s met new friends, so now she has an interest (recently because of Sofia the First). But Calvin’s one year old, so he doesn’t exactly have meaningful conversation about whether an STI is better than an Evo.
So is it inherent that boys must like cars? Maybe. I guess there are just some things “gender neutral” won’t work for.
omg, he’s got that nasty rusty old truck in his hand! and the nasty rusty old lunchbox is on the table! You REALLY had to pick THIS picture?!?!?!?!? 🙂 thanks! 😉
I’d been trying to get a good picture of him with cars for a week or so. This is the best one I found!