Boys, Baby Dolls, and Toy Strollers

My husband and I are raising two boys. We feel that there is nothing that our boys can't do. We want them to be well rounded and experience the world fully.

We are raising our boys to be strong, but we never stop them from crying. "Boys don't cry" is not a thing in our family. You feel sad? You let it out! You feel happy? You laugh and dance and sing. You feel angry? Talk about it!

This is simply the way we have chosen to raise our boys. We do not restrict them, we simply guide them.

So, when it comes to toys, we try not to steer them away from "girl toys". While, for the most part, the boys are into cars, trains, Star Wars, Super Heroes, video games and action figures, once in a while, they take interest in something like, a play kitchen. Yes, this is rare, and fleeting, as their interest in "girl toys" seems to fade very quickly, but we do appreciate what these toys bring to the table. For instance, once in a blue moon, Princeton stops mid-action-figure-battle, to go to his toy kitchen and announces that he's making coffee for mommy, while Skyler does the dishes!

A good friend, who used to watch the boys for us, gave them a toy cleaning set. Mops, brooms, dusters, and more. And while most of the time the mop and broom double as pirate swords, every now and then, the boys get together and start helping Papa and Mama clean.

I have to say, the best "girl toys" I have ever seen my boys play with, have to be the Joovy toy stroller, car seat and playpen.

Hesitant at first, our boys announced that they did not want to play house, or play with baby dolls. They also announced that they did not want to be daddy's. They had a lot of help from their girl cousins, in teaching them how to care for their baby dolls, and the result was beautiful.

They got into the groove of things. Princeton loved feeding the baby dolls their bottles, because it reminded him of how Skyler used to drink his bookoo's (Skyler's word for bottle).

Skyler could not be torn from pushing his baby in the tiny Joovy Caboose stroller.

The funny part was, the kids naturally fell into their rolls as mommy's and daddy's, although Princeton did keep insisting that he was going to be the baby's brother, not the baby's daddy. They separated into teams of two. The two older kids were more interested in the playpen, carseat and feeding their baby, while the two younger cousins decided to take their baby for a nice stroller walk.

All four kids had a very different experience playing with these toys because they got to play with them together. The boys and the girls all mimicked the way their own parents care for them. They were gentle, they were funny, they knew to burp their dolls and they didn't want to change any diapers. They pushed the strollers and even had little tug-of-wars here and there because they all wanted to play with these "girl toys".

It is so important to be open minded when raising children. My boys would have never gotten this lesson in tender love and care, had it not been for these amazing toys, and a little guidance from their cousins.