The Harmful Message Toy Companies Are Sending Our Children

Parents are finding that childhood today is far different than when they were growing up.

Children are faced with far more options for entertainment than in generations past.

With advancements in technology and an explosion of media activity assaulting today’s kids, it is difficult to teach our children to appreciate good old-fashioned play — or to understand traditional family values.

More than ever, retailers are targeting children with an overwhelming array of toy choices, and sadly, they want to rid the industry of traditional toys appealing to specific genders.

LifeSite News reported:

Lego, Mattel and Hasbro have begun approaching the creation and marketing of their toys to appeal to both genders, according to Fortune. And likewise the companies have stopped dividing toy space into pink and blue aisles and ceased using boys or girls categories in reporting revenues.

The report said industry executives call it a sign of the times, with millennial parents in particular wanting to avoid having their children learn “stereotypical” gender behaviors.

“We look at our brands more inclusively than ever,” Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner told the Hollywood Reporter recently. “In fact, we eliminated the old delineation of gender.”

The problem here is not a girl playing in the backyard with a toy truck, or a young boy playing with a toy kitchen set.

Toy companies are now taking a sinister turn in their marketing to children.

In the name of “inclusivity,” and at the request of mostly millennial parents, toy retailers are not only eliminating gender classifications in their marketing and packaging, but they are pushing the idea that gender is non-existent altogether.

New York Times reported:

Still, the most significant shifts in gender categorizing — and certainly the most debated — have been in children’s merchandise. The shifts stem from a growing recognition, first among niche outlets and now among mainstream companies, of the role many traditional toys, clothes and costumes have played in reinforcing gender stereotyping. Experts have linked the items to all manner of gender disparities, including gaps in boys’ and girls’ self-confidence levels and career choices

And the message to children is confusing, and damaging.

If the American family is going to continue to exist as God intended, children must have some sort of gender identity, not be told they don’t have to be a “boy or a girl.”

Feminist culture is pervading our girls’ childhoods, telling them that being feminine, playing with dolls, and wanting a husband and children is somehow wrong.

And perhaps more serious is the message that boys do not need to be strong role models — that being the head of the family and provide support for your wife and children is merely optional.

The Federalist reported on the dangers of gender-neutral messages to children:

Gender-neutral parents aren’t really neutral. Even if they were, they’d still be crazy. You can’t tell boys that manhood is a matter of indifference and expect things to turn out well.

Advocates sometimes point out that the great majority of gender-bending children ultimately grow into heterosexual adults. That might be a relief if we were only interested in bare questions of self-identification.

 This is crazy. It’s terrible for boys, for three reasons. First, “gender-neutral” parents aren’t truly comfortable with masculinity. Second, we need boys to aspire to manhood, not to see it as a matter of indifference. Third, it’s impossible to give boys a fleshed-out picture of honorable manhood if they’re trapped in the entryway, trying to decide whether manhood is actually their goal.

 For evidence of how “neutral” modern parents really are, consider Michelle, a lesbian parent, who publicly admits she regularly battles her young son’s interest in being a boy. “I’m constantly like trying to queer my relationship with him and get him to wear tutus. He hates it. He’s just like, ‘no,’” she says.

For the toy companies, the bottom line is the almighty dollar.

They claim these genderless toys are what all parents want for their children.

LifeSite News reported:

Hasbro President John Frascotti, agrees with the emphasis on products without regard to gender. He said each of the Star Wars, My Little Pony and Transformers brands now have fans who don’t fall into the previously understood categories when the brands were launched.

“We want to be inclusive in our approach across gender and ethnicity,” Frascotti told Fortune. “Instead of thinking, that’s a boy brand or a girl brand, we see them as dual-gender.”

In the case of My Little Pony, the colorful cartoon about magical ponies was initially marketed to little girls but in the last several years developed a following of “bronies.” The “brony” demographic typically refers to grown men who are fans of the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic show.

Earlier this week, Mattel unveiled 15 new Ken dolls for the 50-plus-year-old Barbie and Ken franchise, which included several versions of a Man-Bun Ken. The inclusive doll’s release created significant Internet chatter, including a fair amount of ridicule.

Children need a sense of identity and to have confidence in who they are from birth.

This damaging new trend towards erasing gender from childhood will have devastating effects on our society and our families.

Toy companies may think they are making childhood better by offering more choices, but they are really sending the message that you should be ashamed of who you are.