Trains or Barbies?

Two friends of mine who are parents had made the conscious decision that their children would not be genderized into playing with toys only geared for their particular gender. As my one friend put it: "Why should my daughter only play with Barbie?"

Funny thing is that both sets of parents failed miserably. In both cases, their daughters love playing with "girly girl" stuff. Barbie, everything pink, and lots of frilly things...play makeup. The boys...lots of trucks, trains, and heavy machinery.

So I've been thinking about this. What causes us to genderize our children and their play toys. Why don't boys play with the Barbie's and girls play with the trains? At first I thought it was the other kids in school, but I don't think that's it. I think it's the television advertisements. Kids learn by example and imitation. In all the advertisements for Barbie, all the kids playing with them are girls.

What does this do long term? Is this the first moments when masculinity and femininity are defined and is this a good idea?

hmmm...Can you tell I'm awfully glad I don't have a show this weekend? I'm beat!