Lego announced recently that on January 1, 2012 they will be releasing a new line called Lego Friends and it's geared specifically for girls. I don't know about you but I am excited about this. We have two boys and one girl and my boys LOVE anything and everything Lego. My daughter also enjoys Legos but more often then not, she feels a little left out when the boys are playing with their Legos building airplanes, warships and whatnot . She will occasionally build some things but it's a little hard to build something to her liking when the millions of pieces that we own are all from boy themed sets such as Star Wars, Hero Factory and Cars. I know they have the boxed sets that include Legos with all sorts of colors, and they even have a pink brick box geared for little girls that they can build a house, a car, a horse with. In case you've never seen it it can be found here.
Today I came across an article on Circle of Moms: "Lego Friends Line for Girls Raises Controversy". And curious I searched and found a few more. Jezebel wrote "Lego Targets Girls with pink blocks, cute figures, & no creativity". HLN wrote "Do girls really need pink Legos".
Honestly I do not get what all the hooplah is about. This whole should toys be separated by gender is a joke. Most toys out there today are in fact separated by gender. What are Barbies? A toy geared specifically for girls, or how about Disney Princess, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, the list goes on and on. And it also goes visa versa for toys geared specifically for boys. There's Tonka, Hot Wheels, Action Figures, Batman, Star Wars. It's been this way since I was a kid. We had most of the items I mentioned above and a few more such as She-ra and Rainbow Bright and boys had He-man and die-cast Transformers. You get the picture I am trying to paint?
The second article ruffled my feathers a little bit just in it's title. No creativity, really? I think they did pretty darn good in the making of these Legos. Not only were the characters created as smart but in the descriptions of each character they lists a few of their interest and for them to list what they want to be is awesome in my mind. I mean what little girl wouldn't want to play with a Lego such as the character Olivia who's bio states:
I love: My friends, science, school, drawing, inventing things, nature, hiking, photography, history.
I want to be: A scientist or an engineer.
Or how about Andrea. Her bio states:
I love: Writing and composing my own songs.
I want to be: A musician/singer-songwriter.
No girls do not NEED pink Legos but there is nothing wrong with adding a little extra touch to a product to gear it towards a specific sex. It's called marketing and people in that field know how to do their job and in Legos case I think they are doing it extraordinarily well. Not only that but Legos in general are a great resource for growing kids. They can provide hours of entertainment, and not mind numbing entertainment that a TV provides but they get you to use your brain. Figure out what piece goes where, you can build by separating by color, by size, they can be used to teach math, they teach them how to think three dimensionally, helps with fine motor development, learning patterns, do I need to go on?
I for one will be purchasing a set or two, possibly even three for my little girl not only for the learning benefits but simply because I am all for toys with positive message behind them.
