Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Cool-looking toy

I would have loved this as a kid!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/369073015/roominate-make-it-yours

My niece (age 8) saw them at a trade show or somesuch, and was totally enthralled.

It's very interesting. I'm on the fence about the idea. Without knocking it down, I really don't know if it's better to tempt children to work with simple circuits or other STEM basics as part of a home decorating exercise or anything else traditionally seen as feminine, even if it works for some, or to encourage girls more in general to give full reign to their enjoyment of non-"girly" toys. I think the main problem here is gender programming at early ages, and this toy actually seems to reinforce that instead of attacking it head-on. I also doubt that this sort of introduction to STEM topics is the best way to do it from a purely pedagogical perspective.

Iucounu, part of me really agrees with you, but I also feel like things have gotten so dire, we need to attack on all fronts. It's true that the main problem is genderizing at early ages, but meanwhile, what are we going to do with all the girls who have already drunk the koolaid?

Genderizing has gotten way worse since I was growing up in the '70's. Before I had Hanni I thought I could fight it on my own. Wow was I naive. I've mentioned that her preschool has a demographic of highly educated parents. I also live in Progressiville, Blue State. I'm not knocking anyone here with different values from mine, but my point is, if you were going to find a group of parents downplaying gender roles, it would be here. But somehow the girls all know about Disney princesses, and the boys all know about Star Wars laser guns and martial arts fighting moves. The girls all dress in pepto-bismol pink, and the boys all dress in orange-and-grey and other unlovely color combinations.

I agree that this toy doesn't go a long way in teaching STEM, but it opens a door. It allows girls to see mechanical and electrical stuff as compatible with their self image. It lets them get the rush of designing a circuit, without feeling like they have to align themselves with the ugly-clothes-wearing boys.

And finally, I was actually fairly impressed with how they genderized this toy. This isn't pink legos. There's a range of positive skills involved here, ranging from decorating, through furniture design and architecture, all the way to electrical circuits. This is subtly chipping away at the narrow confines of girl culture, by welcoming these things into that culture.

All right, MegMeg, I'm convinced. In considering the merits of the toy, I should have simply thought about whether it is a net positive or negative-- and even if it's not perfect (what is?), if it opens an opportunity to a single person it's positive. Any girl who picks it because it seems "girly" is going to be better off than playing with Barbies.

I'm not convinced it's just society, here. Little ones are seeking out their identities, and gender is a big part of that. There are some gender stereotypes, and our little ones pick up on those pretty quick... at which point they begin to question themselves. "Should I be into this? It's for boys/girls."

I've caught my DD verbalizing this thought process several times, so who knows how many times she's gone down this road but never expressed it? In these instances, I tell her she can like whatever she wants to like. One year she proposed to be Spiderman for Halloween, and I was fully supportive of the idea... but she changed her mind and went as something girly anyway (not sure if that was the year she was a cheerleader or Hermione).

My point is that it isn't just society that's pandering to the stereotype... so are the children. Consciously.


LOL. Last week I put on a new shirt and shorts, and my wife congratulated me on successfully coordinating the two, because the same shade of blue was on both. I had to take a second glance at the shirt and confess I had no idea they were the same. They were simply the first shirt and shorts I pulled out of the drawer.

The problem lies in the choices available to children as they explore these roles. The children do not create those, and they have very little control over them.

Case in point is this obsession with pink. Many people think it's an innate preference. Except that pink has only been a girl color for about a century. Before that it was a boy color. (It was considered a baby version of red, a masculine color.) And that's just the European/American tradition. In some Asian cultures, pink is traditionally a boy's color as well.

So why are today's girls obsessed with pink? Because they are shaping themselves based on the choices they see available. Maybe not a problem if we're just talking about a color, but very much a problem when we're talking about interests, skills, and life goals.

My DD7 is far more obsessed with pink than any of her peers, because sure, several of her teammates were wearing pink on the soccer team, but none were covered head to toe with it, and none of the others wore it every single practice. Practice started while I was still on my commute, but I never had any problem spotting the right group, because all I had to do was look for the bright pink streak that was my own daughter.

And honestly, I think her parents are to blame. She was slow to grow hair, and didn't look the part until she was nearly three, so to announce her gender we covered her in pink (and still got the random "Awww, he's adorable" comments anyway). If everything you own and is important to you is pink, wouldn't that naturally become your favorite color, through association?

And isn't that how such biases are formed in the first place? Through association? My favorite color is a sea foam shade of green, because I love the ocean. What about yours?

And ultimately it doesn't matter one way or another... it's just a color.

Aiden would absolutely love this! I know several kids (boys and girls) that would enjoy this as a STEM introduction. Perhaps that's because here you can't get SNAP circuits etc. But it would be so cool to have this!

WRT gender toys - I agree that it comes from previous generations. And it's exacerbated by society too. I try and counter this by allowing my boys to play with whatever - they have dolls, brooms, toy tea sets as well as lego, science equipment and toy cars. They can choose their own colours to wear - although I admit they do not own anything pink simply because I cannot stand the colour. I refused to wear it from about the age of 9 onwards, although thank heavens from childhood photos I see I was mainly in reds and blues.

hving said that both my two oldest boy went through stages where they emphatically declared pink as their favourite colour. (And no, they were not listening to Prince/Symbol at the time)