Go Play !

Have you ever been to a toy store ? No, this isn't only for the already-moms and dads... it's for the rest of the normal public too am asking... Please, i don't mean that moms and dads aren't normal.. its just that our lives aren't anymore once the kids are out... I know most of the parents would be grinning at this statement... atleast a nod please ???

OK ...coming back to my question, have you ever been to a toy store ?? Why ?? If you don't have kids ? Well, you could always gift other people's kids for their birthdays or so ... Well, you won't be in this league if you are one among those who give away gift cards (no offense, sometimes its better to gift a card than a toy you know would be returned ).. it doesn't need a browse into the kids haven !! But, if you happened to browse around and tried to look up for toys, you will be reading this article further too...

My point might still be very unclear... but let me continue anyway !
Whenever I browse around for toys, you will find me mostly around the neutral section ... My elder son likes doing puzzles, blocks, crayons..... I guess, they are for both the sexes... any kid just indulges in colors and building blocks. However, my younger son is a bit different from his brother and loves playing with cars too, and already has a huge collection of them.

It's a rarity that I go into the girls section though ...remember the gift card thing ???

However, I happened to go into the girls section for a pretty girl I wanted to buy a gift for. Firstly, it's all PINK ! An overdosage of the feminine color !
And then, the toys !!! Lemme explain ... There were doll houses, mock cleaning sets ( including a mop, brushes etc ) mock ironing set, doll prams, to name a few. I had to stop myself and check the whole section yet again .. they were just toys of all kinds for girls to become a perfect woman ( who cooks, cleans and raises babies !!) And then, I went to the boys section ... I was seriously hoping for a doll pram there too, atleast in the blue or grey shade... but they weren't any !! There were tool box sets, car sets, action figures !! Whoever said that a man wouldn't stroll his baby in a pram ??

Maybe, am thinking too much ! But, I was a bit shaken with this truth that we are engineering toys to be masculine and feminine... and so, while the girls get to do mock make-up and change diapers to baby dolls, boys are out to FIX things out ??

Now, you may ask if I would like my boys to play with dolls... Well, atleast they watch Dora the explorer and Diego with the same enthusiasm. (This is strictly parental lingo... the other normal public may ignore this statement ..hehe ) What am trying to say is that I wouldn't like my boys to have a taste of the already existing male-chauvinism so soon in their life. What's in a toy? Just to play, right ? Why should it be differentiated ?? With the chef-genes running in their blood, I would happily buy a kitchen set if my son asks me so.... maybe, the girl-child parents too should start buying GI Joes... whatsay ??

So, with the newer generation having great male chefs and female pilots, maybe its just time we reengineer the toys yet again. Just a small thought of mine.....
I hope "TOYS R" listening to "US" !!