Tuesdays With Tyler: A Doll, A Doll, Tyler wants a Doll

My four-year-old son asks me from time to time if he could have a “dolly”. I think he sees the girls in his daycare playing with dolls and doll houses, or perhaps it is because he will never have a brother or sister. Anyway, despite protests of certain family members, I am getting my child a doll.

It seems to me that most people don’t have a problem with boys playing with “girl toys”…until it’s THEIR KID. You would think that I told my family that he has asked to dress in my lingerie!

When I was a little girl, my little brother got blocks for Christmas and I started to cry because I wanted blocks too. My mother said, “But blocks are for boys, you have dolls and lots of other toys.” I still wanted blocks and when my parents bought them for me I was so happy. I loved to build with my blocks. This was back in the early 70s, when boys got doctor’s kits and girls got nurses kits. Now girls play with blocks just as much as boys.

Now it is 2010 and we are still on this dolls are for girls kick! What happened to breaking down sexual barriers and letting kids be “Free to be, You and Me” , a television show that starred Marlo Thomas and included a song about how it’s okay for a boy to have a doll.

Watch this video of A Doll, A Doll, William Wants a Doll. If you are like me, you will be tearing up!

Does giving a child a doll make them gay, is that what we are worried about? Why do we even care any more? Plus if Tyler senses a stigma towards boys playing with dolls and dollhouses, he may start thinking that something is wrong with him.

Tyler at just the age of four has developed a very compassionate, nurturing side to him. A few weeks ago he asked how babies are born and then asked me when will he be able to be a daddy. Talk about parenting on the fly!

So, before Christmas, mommy and Tyler are going to a toy store and have him pick out the type of doll he wants, and then we can ask Santa for it. I don’t care how anyone feels about it, this child shall have his dolly and this mommy will support him in it.

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About mamasick

Emily Cullen is a pen-name. I suffer from chronic illnesses and diseases which include Bipolar Disorder, Asthma, Diabetes and Fibromyalgia. I had battled Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis but there is no longer evidence of me having these diseases and my Rheumatologist has declared them to be "burnt out" of my system. I am separated from my husband, “Grant”. Our son, “Tyler” was born in September of 2006 and suffers from tics and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and is delayed in fine and gross motor skills. In my blog I seek to let sick moms know that they are not the only ones going through this, and to educate people about what can happens when one becomes catastrophically ill. I also strive to break down stereotypes of what a “Welfare Mom” is like. Anything that I have gone through due to being sick, is written on the pages of Mama Sick.

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