Gender roles

I have always been very vocal with Griffey and Adam and my students that I do not like gender stereotyping.  I hate that our society has denoted certain colors are boy colors and certain colors as girl colors.  It is annoying when I look in the toy section and see pink rows and blue/gray rows. 

I have always made sure Griffey feels comfortable choosing from all the toys and not just the "boy" toys and same with clothes, activities, tv shows, ect.  Griffey has loved Dora and Thomas and loved his Dora shirts as much as his monster truck shirts.

However, Noah and Natalia are sooo much different than how Griffey was! It is very interesting to see.  Since I ultimately want my kids to choose their interests for themselves, I don't want to push them into gender roles, but I also don't want to push them so far in the opposite direction that they don't feel comfortable liking gender stereotypical things around me.

Last month, we took the kids to Toys R' Us to get a feel for what Noah and Natalia might like for Christmas.  I handed both of them a baby doll.  Natalia instantly embraced it and started singing, hugging, rocking, and patting it's back. Noah, on the other hand, started biting it's face and then grunted as he threw it to the ground.

We ended up getting Talia the doll because it was so cute seeing how attached she was, but I also feel like I need to tell everyone, "We tried to give them both one.  Noah didn't want it." Just to make sure they know I am not pushing them into gender roles.

I don't have a lot of experience with this because Griffey always liked everything. Noah is very brash and destructive.  He grunts and hits and throws toys.  He loves playing catch and throwing balls.

Natalia, on the other hand, loves headbands and bows and smiles when she puts one on.  She sings all the time and will hug and rock any stuffed animal or baby doll she finds.

I think it is just important I always make sure they know that they have any option of clothes, toys, activities, etc. and that it is also okay if they do choose gender stereotypical things.