Do you think there's anything right or wrong with a mother wanting her son to play with/carry around a doll?

Question

This little boy was obviously trying to separate himself from it and she kept picking it up and giving it back to him. What do you make of that?

Answer 1

That I disagree with. Because of the fact that the young man will be confused as far as his sexuality is concerned once he reached puberty and adult hood. It seems to me like she wants him to be homosexual.

Answer 2

Too little information to tell. It could be that he was one of those deeplu annoying kids who drops it , runs off, then five minutes later is screaming blue murder for it. Or it could be he was supposed to be carrying it for someone else and she was teaching him responsibility. These two examples arn't just made up, their two examples I remember from dealing with little kids. So I'd say there's not enough information here to make an assumption or judge this woman.

Answer 3

I don't think it's right to force a toy on your child. If he wanted the doll, he'd play with it.

Answer 4

I do not think that there's anything wrong with a natural need to see ones children being open and accepting.  However, forcing it upon them, as the mother in your example did, is wrong.

Children know what they like from a young age.  Some boys like dolls; some don't.  Some girls like toy guns; some don't.  The truth is that you can't force a child to like any toy and it's really pointless if one is trying to make a political statement and the child is getting unruly because he can't do what he wants.

Answer 5

I think they should try to get them to play with toys for boys not girls. You don't want our kid getting made fun of in kinder garden or 1st grade. Pushing this on them is wrong but if they do it on there own then let them just play.

Answer 6

As a mom, I doubt she would have gone to the trouble of bringing a toy outside with her that she knew her son hated and that she would continually have to pick up. I'm thinking that the boy probably demanded to bring the toy out with him, but got distracted by other things out in the big colorful world and started ignoring the toy. The more his mom tries to make him responsible for it, the more agitated he gets, wanting to get away from the toy that's keeping him from interacting with other things.

The fact that it's a doll is totally irrelevant and is making people here say really stupid things (the mom is trying to turn him g*y? Are you serious? Maybe she just wants him to understand that someday parenting will also be his responsibility).

It's just a kid who wanted a toy when he left home, and then didn't want it when he got out into public where there's tons more exciting stuff to do. Anybody who's taken care of a kid has had that phenomenon occur more than once.

Answer 7

Not at all.  I intend to give all of my children dolls.  I found a study while researching child development that stated boys who have dolls also end up being more caring fathers.  While there are a million other factors this has stayed in my head.  I don't care if society thinks my 18 month old should be carrying around sword, I will at least give him the opportunity to care for something...even if it is a teddy bear.

I do have a problem with parents forcing kids to play with things though.  Children should be exploring things THEY want and allowed to make their own decisions about play.  At four or five they have recognized social structures.  This is too late to introduce him to a doll.  He will most likely recognize it as a "girl thing".  It is no wonder he wanted nothing to do with it.

Answer 8

nothing wrong with a kid carrying around a doll unless he doesn't want to... then there is some issues with the mom.

Answer 9

My 2 year old son has a baby doll. I got it for him to help with potty training, but we never actually used it for that...he just liked the "baby"...

So, I don't think anything is wrong with a boy playing with a doll, just like its not wrong for a girl to play with toy trucks. They are just toys, and they are just pretending.

But it is just stupid to try and make a kid play with a toy. Where is the fun in that?

Answer 10

Umm, yeah, she's forcing him to play with something he doesn't want to.  I think that' wrong.

Answer 11

I presume you mean a girls doll, not one of those action figures. If it is the former then someone should have a little talk with the mother, in a jocular way of course.

Answer 12

You shoulod give your children access to whatever toys they want, if boys want to play with dolls they should. But you shouldn't force them to play with aything. But maybe it was a gift from someone that she didn't want to offend, or  maybe she was trying to make him hold the d**n thing than drop it everywhere.

Answer 13

Forcing a toy on a child, of any kind - it could be a truck as easily as a doll - is not a good idea.  It's usually more about the parent's needs than the child's.

Answer 14

I don't think that is a good thing. Like she's trying to make him dependent upon it. Especially a doll? It's not unnatural for him to be drawn towards other things.

That's an odd scenerio. I don't see what her motivation would be, unless he begged her to buy it and now shows no interest. Or if he was just having a temper tantrum or something and she knew he'd be upset if he ended up losing it.

Answer 15

I gave my sister a G.I. Joe doll and you wouldn't believe what happened.

Now she's dating the entire brigade.

Answer 16

I don't think children should be forced to play with a certain toy.  They are forced to go to school, and when they are playing it should be fun.  Otherwise, I don't see anything wrong with a boy playing with a doll.  Many little boys played with GI Joes, and action figures.  They are dolls.

Answer 17

That's extremely weird.  My youngest son went through a phase of playing with dolls when he was very small, but it would never have occured to me to either encourage it or discourage it.  I certainly would never try and force him to play with anything he didn't want to.  That is totally bizarre.

Answer 18

I think she should just let him be who he wants to be. If he wants to play with dolls, she should let him! If he doesn't, then she should not force them on him and instead should just let him play with what he wants to play with!

Answer 19

Do you think there is anything wrong with someone policing a mother's actions and people assuming what she was doing is wrong because of his gender?

My  boyfriend had a doll when he was little but he hated it when other people referred to it as a 'doll' because he was aware that 'only girls are supposed to play with dolls'. Maybe the boy was self conscious about being in public with his doll?

No I don't think there is anything wrong with the mother wanting her son to play with a doll, or with a boy wearing pick etc. What I think is wrong are the narrow gender roles and hetrosexism that society pressures us to conform to.

Answer 20

Maybe she was a feminist, some feminist believe in a theory that gender differences don’t exist natural that in fact they are taught by society. So the solution to that problem is to teach their children starting at infancy otherwise, such as giving boys dolls to play with. However gender differences are not cultural construct, it’s something that’s in grained in us all from birth. A study was performed and found that that for whatever reason if left to themselves and given a choice boys and girls chose to play with the usual stereotypical toys they play with. In fact when forced to play with their opposites toy’s they played with them the way they played with their own, for example even at a very young age girls would play house with army men while boys would throw the dolls across the room

Answer 21

looks like the mother is working hard at stating her own agenda.  Its the mother who has an issue.  I don't see anything wrong with boys playing with dolls: as GI Joe is a doll.  But if he playing with girl dolls, then the majority of this society tends to see a problems.

Answer 22

it seems forced your right, but maybe she was trying to teach the child that if you bring something out you have to keep hold of it.

dunno though i just try and look at both sides

Answer 23

If he doesn't want it, she should bin it.

Answer 24

What the h**l has this world come to?

You should have smacked her one and told her to buy him a toy car or a rocket.

Answer 25

I would make of that a nut of a woman with lots of personal issues.

Answer 26

I have a problem with the forcing it on him bit.

Children should be given a wide variety of toys and allowed to choose which ones they prefer to play with.   Some guided play is good, but they also need unstructured play time.

Answer 27

shes trying to make her kid a girl!!! lol no really i dunno. maybe shes like an ultrafeminist or soemthing.