So – when we move to the new house in August, Emeline will have a decent sized portion of the basement for ALL of her toys and stuff. This makes me happier than I can even get into. Finally, her bedroom will be just that – her bedroom. There will be books and a few dolls/animals, but it will mostly be just her bedroom for sleeping or daydreaming or whatever. All of her playthings will be in the basement. The awesome thing is also that her section of the basement is right next to the family room area where the television and sofa will be (which is next to the gaming area, which is next to the Nerd Hole. I promise there will be pictures.) So basically, whether we’re watching TV, gaming, or playing on the computer, the family will be all together! It will be awesome and I can’t wait. Emeline’s Side also has an 8-foot by 6-foot chalkboard along the back wall and one of the sidewalls is a corkboard. Lots of room for drawing and displaying of artwork. She’ll have her Little Tykes table and chairs there, as well as a number of cheap Ikea toy boxes for her toys. There will also be a little cubby shelf with labeled drawers for her art supplies and smaller toys. There is a closet for the larger stuff and for shoving things into when cleaning really fast.
There is a point to all of this besides just laying out the floor plan of the new basement.
I want to put my old kitchen play set in there and for whatever reason, the thought popped into my mind, “Are you encouraging pretend play or perpetuating a stereotype?” I am inclined to think the former. Joe and I share in the cooking duties, with him doing the majority of it when I am in school. She helps him cook just as often as she helps me cook and I think her having a kitchen of her own to play in would be awesome for her. And yet, a very small, and somewhat annoying voice in my head says, “She’ll think she HAS to cook cause she’s a GIRL!” Which couldn’t be further from the truth. I know that when I played in my kitchen set, it wasn’t with a sense of female epicurean duty, but with a sense of “What can I sneak out of the kitchen, mix up down here, and try to poison my little brother with? Oatmeal, mayonnaise, and mustard? AWESOME!”
So I wonder how much negative perpetuation of a plaything is inherent and how much is learned? Meaning – unless I tell her that because she is a female she needs to learn how to cook because the men in her life will be unable to feed themselves without her will she think that’s what her play set is for, or will she just play with the darned thing and be happy to imitate me by dropping something and yelling “God DAMN it!” or imitate Joe by adding Cajun spices and Tabasco sauce to everything, including brownie mix without any feelings on what expectations her gender seems to require?
Of course, as I ponder this, I continue my search for just the right and perfect princess wallpaper border for her room. I am nothing if not ironical.
There is a point to all of this besides just laying out the floor plan of the new basement.
I want to put my old kitchen play set in there and for whatever reason, the thought popped into my mind, “Are you encouraging pretend play or perpetuating a stereotype?” I am inclined to think the former. Joe and I share in the cooking duties, with him doing the majority of it when I am in school. She helps him cook just as often as she helps me cook and I think her having a kitchen of her own to play in would be awesome for her. And yet, a very small, and somewhat annoying voice in my head says, “She’ll think she HAS to cook cause she’s a GIRL!” Which couldn’t be further from the truth. I know that when I played in my kitchen set, it wasn’t with a sense of female epicurean duty, but with a sense of “What can I sneak out of the kitchen, mix up down here, and try to poison my little brother with? Oatmeal, mayonnaise, and mustard? AWESOME!”
So I wonder how much negative perpetuation of a plaything is inherent and how much is learned? Meaning – unless I tell her that because she is a female she needs to learn how to cook because the men in her life will be unable to feed themselves without her will she think that’s what her play set is for, or will she just play with the darned thing and be happy to imitate me by dropping something and yelling “God DAMN it!” or imitate Joe by adding Cajun spices and Tabasco sauce to everything, including brownie mix without any feelings on what expectations her gender seems to require?
Of course, as I ponder this, I continue my search for just the right and perfect princess wallpaper border for her room. I am nothing if not ironical.
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