Why does it seeming always have to be about not “conforming” to gender stereotypes?
You would call me a stereotype of a woman. I’m cool with that.
I’ve had an experience in my personal life when my dd was very excited to show a family member the new barbie house she got for her birthday. Long story short, I was accused of all sorts because I have a daughter who loves playing with dolls over playing football. I wasn’t giving her a choice. Only, I was. She chose what she liked.
This person was equally as critical when my ds loved cars, the colour blue and pretending he was a medieval knight.
All my fault, again.
I’d pushed it on him. God forbid, that’s what he chose for himself and just the stuff he liked. It would have been far more acceptable to that person if ds had wanted to dress a a princess instead. She even told me I should buy him dolls and dresses (which would have gone untouched and ignored just like those sort of toys at playgroups and preschool which were available to him, he only liked things with wheels until he moved onto star wars figures).
She could not understand the point that if I had bought him dolls and dresses and insisted he played with them, then I would have been pushing something on to him rather than letting him chose what to play with. He had those options around him everyday at other settings. He didn’t want to play with them.
So it would have been okay to push non gender conforming toys, that would have been preferable to letting a boy just play with the cars and trucks that he enjoyed.
I’ve had three children and I’ve come across that attitude a few times.
Sorry that’s a tangent. But there is nothing wrong with liking what you like and if that is “gender conforming” so what?