I bought a doll for my one year old son today...

Hang on to that flipping Dobbie doll, OP. Keep it in the toy box. Add other weird girly shit to the toy box too. It's good for boys to experience dolls, irons, bottles, pans etc. Also girls to experiences trains, cars etc. Keep it all mixed up.

Twenty years ago, when my DC were small, we thought we were eradicating toy apartheid. ELC (ie Early Learning Centre) was extremely right-on, in that nothing was sexist. All was luffly and available to all. No pink shit, no guns, none of that madness.

They sold out.

My DCs (a mixed bunch) had dolls and one of them was an anatomically correct boy doll. Another was a black doll, and yet another was a fat doll (The Body Shop sold the latter for a short while). I do hope there is still a variety available???

Bet there isn't though. Things are going backwards.

My DS had a doll at 1yr old, he loved it!

Dp slept with a Barbie until he was at least twelve

I remember pondering the fact that baby dolls have bottles. Next thing I knew, dh had taught dd how to breastfeed her doll.

Keep on your feminist mantra. If your dh is a good guy he will consider, then join you.

(By the way, I wasn't equating bf with feminism, just that as parents, men should participate in shaping the values of their children.)

I would never buy ds a doll.

He doesn't need one, he steals his big sister's dolls all the time. He also like the hairdryer and brushing my hair. He's 13mo. Of course he's probably already caught gay, but what can you do?

How weird.

Dh went out and bought ds2 a doll after ds2 wandered around a friend's house with a doll to his breast 'who was having his mummy milk' and got really upset when we had to leave it behind.

I would have thought a lot less of him if he hadn't.

Children learn a huge amount about their world by incorporating situations they regularly see in RL into their play.
Children very, very regularly see adults caring for small children and babies. It is perfectly normal for them to want to try out nurturing and caring in their play, using dolls or other 'baby' substitutes.
It lets them try out what it might be like to be a 'mummy' or a 'daddy'.
It really isn't a girl vs. boy thing.

How weird. DS1 had a doll for his 2nd birthday to help with teh idea of his soon to arrive brother but I'd have got him one anyway. He named her Chilli con Carne and breastfed her from his tummy button - only for about 2 weeks though. He didn't show a huge amount of interest in her apart from chucking her down slides, although DS2 has been a bit more interested.

They have also had toy cookers, My Little Ponies and a dolls house, as well as numerous cars, trains, meccano, Lego etc.Can't see a problem at all.

maybe you need to play this along - sit your DH down and ask if he wants to talk about how deprived he was as a child because he wasn't allowed to play with dolls - pretend to do a "aw, poor you must have suffered" voice and ask him if it has affected him more deeply than he realised...

I didn't have a Fisher Price ringing telephone when I was a child, but just because I turned out alright doesn't mean I would deny DD one!

Does your son never go to nursery or any playgroups?

Your DS is learning now how to be a dad. He's learning from your DH with a doll as a prop. Try telling him something along the lines that you hope your DS will be such a brilliant and caring dad as he is.

So he thinks having a doll = not turning out all right then .

How bizarre! Why would your DH and his friends object?

My friend'a DH was laughing about his son enjoying playing with the DDs pushchairs and dolls. He stopped when I pointed out that he had pushed his son to ours in the pushchair and changed his nappy and none of us were laughing at that.

That's really odd. Children imitate adults when they play. Is your DH the sort of old-fashioned man who will not touch babies? My son not only has a doll, a pram, a pink umbrella (which he chose himself) but also a flowery 'girls' bike. For some reason second hand 'boys' bikes were far more expensive. DH not bothered in the slightest.

does your DH not change your son or look after him?
give him cuddles?
or anything?

if he doesn't, then fine, he's being a chauvinist like =every other area of his "parenting" ; but if he does then he's being a bit of a knob. ask him how your DS is supposed to learn these skills if he can't play now?

tell him to get a grip, all my boys have had dolls, a toy pushchair (we have 2 actually) and a toy kitchen etc, they also have toy fairies and dress up fairy outfits and a dress up princess dress, along with a whole host of 'boys' toys but we dont discriminate between boys/girls toys in our house, they are just toys!

DS1 had a doll for his 1st birthday cos his baby brother was due 4 mths later. 3 yrs on and both boys love playing with it still and the buggy it came with.

Your dh is being daft.

Also, why do you care what his friends think?

Your dh is an idiot, or does he have no plans to push his baby around in their buggy?

When I was pregnant with DC2 I bought a buggy and doll for DS1. He loved it. Was great fun going out with him, both of us pushing our babies.