Kids seem to be popping up in our discussions a bit here and there, and so I find myself thinking of "boy appropriate" and "girl appropriate". If there are kids of one gender only in the family, I guess this wouldn't be as much of a potential problem, but if there are both boys and girls, how do you as parents tackle the "appropriateness" of some toy?
Do you clutter up the kids' room(s) just because some toy is "meant for" girls or boys only, or do they play with the same toys? And how about colours? Are they accepting neutral colours or do they insist on having multiples of the same object simply because the already existing one is of "wrong" colour? Do you give in?
And lastly, do you think it is important to teach to kids that there are "girl colours" and "boy colours" (and all the rest of the gender-separating things such as "girls can't climb trees, it is too dangerous for them") or do you think it is important for them to know that a boy can play with dolls and wear pink occasionally (and the other way around)?
I don't have kids yet, but even now can't see myself raising a daughter who lives in a pink princess world and plays quietly with her barbies or a boy who does only rowdy things and never learns how to knit, to put it a bit on the edge :) I think it is a very interesting topic, though, and am fascinated by how people have so different opinions on this matter!
