Boy Games

I wonder if children are inbuilt to like certain toys just because they are of a certain gender.

I am quite careful not to limit Ace by his gender... And also becaus I am wary of violence in games, I was never one to encourage Ace to play with guns and robots or swords. Neither would I encourage or discourage him if he starts playing with his kitchen set and starts cooking or cleaning.

Yet somehow, along the way... Ace has started to show an interest in "boy" toys.

I guess it could be influence from school.. or it could just be all the TV that he has been watching.. but all of a sudden, I noticed, that Ace started to show an interest in guns. Everything that is L shape becomes a gun for him and starts "shooting" at other people when he has a "gun".

"Bang bang bang..." he would shout... as he aims his gun at them.

And then slowly, this interest started to develop into cars, robots (transformers) and finally, the other day, when Max brought a pink shirt for him to change into before we brought him to our biz talk, he asked his Daddy, "Daddy, why I wear pink? I am not a girl..."

So his dad told him that it is not important if he is a girl. Most important that he looks good in pink. I reminded him that it is ok to wear pink or any colour as long as he thinks he looks good and he feels comfortable.

This boy toy phase has since developed into an interest for swords and he actually requested for his Yeye to buy him an 'orange' sword (because orange and green are his favourite colours).

Well, to be fair, I think I should not encourage or discourage him from playing with these toys also. The only thing that I request that he do is to watch out for safety and ensure that when he shoots his guns, he points only at the walls, at the floors or inanimate unbreakable objects like plastic bottles that we put out for him to shoot.

Anyway, other than the transformer set we bought from him in vietnam, almost all of his violent toys like the guns, swords, etc are all in Yeye's house :) hahaha.. tat's course me and Max dun want to buy him those things.. and so he always requests them from his grandfather... Since I cannot tell my father in law what to buy or not to buy for him, I close one eye and let Ace enjoy these toys once in a blue moon when we go over.

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