This is Zack, Ainsley’s 2 year old brother.
Playing house and taking care of baby dolls serves the same purpose in boys as it does in girls. It teaches nurturing, compassion and parenting skills.
Out there – maybe in your house – there is a girl whom Zack will marry.
For that empowered girl, I teach Zack nurturing and compassion, empathy, dishes, cooking and laundry. Yes, already.
I like to think that somewhere out there is a mother who is also teaching her son how to do housework, cook and take care of children, so he’ll make a good boyfriend, a great husband for my daughter and a fantastic father for her children.
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11 comments ↓
i love this! i always loved it when my son played w/his big sis’ babies. something about it just makes you feel warm and happy. there is hope for the future!!!
There really is! right?
I once walked in on my sons “breastfeeding” during their “pretend La Leche League” meeting. Although they will not be called upon to breastfeed when they become fathers, I know they will have what it takes to be warm and nurturing.
Awww – cute. Zack will be a good Daddy.
LOL anonymous – of course they do that. They will be able to hold bottles of pumped milk – for sure.
so sweet and lovely
I couldn’t agree with you more!! My little guy LOVES helping around the house and playing house with baby dolls. Growing up my Mom did an excellent job making sure my brothers learned how to cook, clean, do laundry, etc. just like me. They’re now amazingly rounded men and are incredible husbands. So good job teaching your son that there’s more to life than laying on the couch playing playstation while your wife cleans up after you!!
When my youngest was a baby my older daughter had a lot of friends who were boys. They would crowd around the new baby admiring her, wanting to help. It was so sweet! But I noticed that many times the parents would shoo them away saying, “You’ll hurt her!” even though the boys were in no way being rough. : ( It’s nice to see you letting your son show his nurturing side. Will you ever make a blog about boys?
I find that gender stereotyping in boys happens as early or earlier than for girls. Although I hate the princess-pink choices that many parents make on behalf of their daughters, I think it's just as bad that (usually) those parents snatch dolls away from their sons (after all, we wouldn't want them to be – gasp – GAY!).
I've seen several studies on this – e.g. where 1 yr olds are cross-dressed and given to an unsuspecting couples who are then asked to comfort the children when they become upset. It is unusual for the couple to ever offer a doll to a boy – even when he (really she) is lunging for it.
See: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_1_40/ai_54250823
Quote:
It appears that there may be more stereotyping regarding toys offered to boys. Parents tended to choose masculine and neutral toys more often than feminine toys for their sons but chose neutral toys more than feminine or masculine toys for their daughters (Eisenberg, Wolchik, Hernandez, & Pasternack, 1985).
-K
I tried to get my SIL to participate in that study when our children were 3 weeks old and people kept declaring “he’s such a boy” – no, he’s a drooling, pooping, sleeping, eating baby.
I agree the stereotype is worse for boys. People snatch their toys away – dolls, kitchen items, cleaning items, etc.
Zack is emulating several – me, his dad, his sister – I don’t get at all how he could be emulating a “Gay Guy.” He’s emulating “family.”
People will encourage me to help my daughter play sports or do math – but freak if I let him play with dolls or give him a play kitchen.
There is much work that needs to be done in this area.
Thank you for training your son to be a better man when he grow up. Why not –if we teach girls to be compassion and nurturing this way–why not teaching boys theses skills. Lets stop the division of gender and this is a good way to begin…
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