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Original poster

teach your daughters to iron and air laundry

60 replies

louiseRyan2020 · 26/10/2020 14:56

I was shocked in Aldi this weekend to see toys - clearly marketed at girls - that involved an ironing set (complete with toy iron and ironing board) and a 'clothes airer' - clothes horse (complete with laundry basket).
Ironically both toys were labelled with the slogan 'imagination and creativity' and 'curiosity and discovery'.
The mind boggles . I fail to see how teaching little girls how to iron and air clothes will feed their curiosity or imagination. Both toys seem to show a total absence of imagination - unless perhaps 'how to imagine yourself fulfilling a 1950s stereotype of femininity'?
Perhaps the toys are meant to be ironic and this is actually a plan to teach little girls to rebel against such limited gender stereotypes and domestic drudgery. Apart from anything else, what a total waste of money. It would be cheaper to buy a real clothes horse/ airer than this toy one.
does anyone else find the so-called toys highly objectionable in the 21st century?
I recently went to the new exhibition on the women's rights movement 'Unfinished Business' at the British Library. Well absolutely, this is clearly 'unfinished business' when these kinds of toys are still be marketed at girls.

teach your daughters to iron and air laundry
teach your daughters to iron and air laundry
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MsMarvellous · 26/10/2020 15:06

My son loves his toy dustpan and brush. As I recall it had no child on the box so no stereotyping. We still have the dustpan and use it as a Lego tidy up tool!

burglarbettybaby · 26/10/2020 15:06

Lidl had the right idea

PodgeBod · 26/10/2020 15:06

I wouldn't buy one but my daughter used to make a beeline for the toy iron at one of our playgroups. They should have put a boy on one of the boxes though. Their Dad does all the ironing in this house, I'm useless at it.

ErrolTheDragon · 26/10/2020 15:05

It would have been much better if they'd had pictures of both a boy and a girl on the box. I think that should be a general rule for all toys.

It's odd they don't do this more, increase the size of their market.

olivesonapizza · 26/10/2020 15:03

To be honest my DD would quite like that I think. She does like toy trains and cars too though.

It would have been much better if they'd had pictures of both a boy and a girl on the box. I think that should be a general rule for all toys.

ErrolTheDragon · 26/10/2020 15:02

I bought DD an iron for her 12th birthday.

A soldering iron.Grin

Deliriumoftheendless · 26/10/2020 15:01

I had a toy iron when I was a kid in the seventies.

When my ex moved out he took the iron.

Only thing I’d used it for was Hama beads.

Smellbellina · 26/10/2020 15:01

Kids love to model what they have seen their parents/caters doing, I can imagine the children in my class loving those toys. They always love playing cars or clothes and pegging them on the line.

FairFridaythe13th · 26/10/2020 15:00

What a bloody boring toy. Maybe if you had a big Wendy house and wanted to kit it out but still..

RHTawneyonabus · 26/10/2020 14:58

Lidil Otoh have chosen a little boy to advertise their play ironing set while the little girls play with the race car track. I thought it was a nice touch.

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