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In lugnet.general, Matthew Miller writes:
> John Neal <johnneal@uswest.net> wrote:
> > AFOLers such as Tamy, Julie KrenZILLA, and Jody, Suz, etc. as to how they
> > got into LEGO. My little hypothesis is that they were mentored into LEGO.
> > That is, a parent or an adult actively initiated and encouraged the child
> > to play with LEGO. And, of course, being the perfect toy for boy or girl,
> > the child was hooked. That is at least how *my* daughter got into LEGO. I
> > don't think that she would have sought it out on her own.
>
> Part of my frustration is that it's difficult to _find_ Lego system toys
> that are generally appealing to girls. Almost all of the sets are fire
> trucks, police stations, race cars, or space/castle/pirate sets, and as
> someone else mentioned, all very conflict-oriented. As I've said before,
> it's not that these things can't appeal to girls, but for various reasons,
> they often don't as much.
>
>
> > My point is this: the themes of the LEGO sets are prohibitive to capturing
> > the interest of girls. Girls don't respond to conflict and aggression,
> > which is basically inherent in every theme. Even town, the tamest of the
> > themes, experiences robberies and accidents and emergencies with astounding
> > regularity.
>
> Exactly. So why not produce regular, non-pinkified Lego System sets which
> also are non-conflict oriented. I'm sure you've all seen me rant about this
> before -- schools, restaurants, shops, parks, etc. Scala and Belville have
> two strikes against them in my mind -- first, they really have problems with
> gender stereotypes. But more importantly, they miss out on the most
> important and interesting Lego feature -- there's barely anything to build.
>
> I have some young female relatives that I'd love to buy Lego sets for. But
> it's very difficult to pick out ones I think would inspire a love of Lego.
>
> --
> Matthew Miller ---> mattdm@mattdm.org
> Quotes 'R' Us ---> http://quotes-r-us.org/
OK well an AFOL mother of a boy(2yrs) and a girl (10yrs) I guess I'm qualified
to add something to this discussion.
My daughter, would've actually loved the pink cutesy themed sets when she was
three to five yrs old. That is when she started to love barbies (much to my
disgust, and she didnt get many of then either!)
I, as a child having two older brothers, was hell bent on proving that I could
keep up with them, I had no fear, and although they were much older than me, I
was right there with them, wanting the respect that boys gave each other, when
able to stretch themselves physically.
I had to climb as high, run as fast, etc. they gave me hell, which made me
more determined to prove that I could achieve the same as them. this has
served me well, as I am still highly competitive, and driven in my chosen
career.
I won't go into the horrible things my brothers used to do to show me my
place in the scheme of things. As much as it was my childhood goal to gain an
equal footing with my brothers, it was their desire to tease, hassle, and set
almost impossible challenges for themselves, which I usually, and dangerously
tried to match
By the same token, they were the ones who taught me to fight tooth and nail if
ever attacked by older kids, and this came in handy, believe me. They taught
me to fend for myself, though ocasionally they would step in and protect me if
I was being hassled by a much older and larger boy.
I sometimes did get into physical fights with older boys at shcool cause when
hassled, I would refuse to kow tow. I didnt back down when my brothers hassled
me and they were 4 and 7 yrs older than me!
OK enough about me, I guess my point is that I feel that place within the
family, ages and sex of siblings, parental expectations, culture etc etc etc,
are just as much an issue, as biological sex.
My daughter, much to my relief, has finally passed the barbie and fairy stage,
(as I always found this hard to relate to, however we are now coming into a
much more interesting stage, well hopefully, not just a stage, but a way of
life) for xmas I have purchased her the complete adventurer Egyption theme.
For her birthday next year I have a lot of castle sets, the reason behind this
decision is that she is very much interested in adventure, and other cultures,
she has a fasination for Bog people, Mummies, hidden treasure (she would
really like the pirate sets for this reason but we had to leave something for
her brother - who is pirate mad!) She is very feminine, doesnt like sport much
but has an enquiring mind and a thirst for knowledge.
Please don't think domesticity, and houses for girls vs murder and mayhem for
boys, supplement the historical sets with fun educational resources such as
books on life in ancient egypt, thier jewellery, pottery, heiroglyphics, look
for novels for kids set in ancient egypt, computer games, etc you would be
amazed what is available when you start to look, I have done this for both
xmas and birthday (books on medieval life, craft idea books so she can make
things pertaining to castle life etc) so she has "themed presents" (not all
her presents are a part of the theme, this would be boring, but most are)
Lego is a great educational tool, both as sheer creative role playing and
construction skills, and also as an offshoot into a love of history (this is
the reason that I primarily collect Pirates, castles, adventurers - you can be
sure that I will supplement the dino sets for my son with books, software,
crafts etc for next yrs birthday! Can't wait!)
Ok If you have got this far, congratiulations! I tend to ramble once i get
going, sorry! For the record I hate the pink themend sets, and I would've
hated them when I was a kid, my daughter would've grown out of them by the
time she was 5 or 6. She shows some interest in your average cars and trucks,
but loves the sets I mentioned above.
Hope this gives some of you some xmas ideas!
Just realised this thread is posted to dear lego too, hopefull will give a
hint there too to keep up the "historical sets" please!
Rachel :-)
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Introducing LEGO Direct
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| (...) You're right; I didn't mean to say that. Note my distain for the Scala line. I'd like to see the better non-conflict oriented sets for boys AND girls. But I also have a hypothesis that these sets would sell really well to girls. And when I'm (...) (24 years ago, 14-Dec-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.dear-lego)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Introducing LEGO Direct
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| (...) Part of my frustration is that it's difficult to _find_ Lego system toys that are generally appealing to girls. Almost all of the sets are fire trucks, police stations, race cars, or space/castle/pirate sets, and as someone else mentioned, all (...) (24 years ago, 13-Dec-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.dear-lego)
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