Hasbro's Rose Petal Cottage is Insulting to Girls

Alright while everyone is busy jumping down this lady's throat I'm
going to offer my own opinion about why this is sexist/insulting...
whatever.

For me at least imo it isn't so much of just the fact that it has
these items the crib, the oven and what not. What really got me was
the fact that at the end of the commercial it says something to the
effect of "a place for dreams to grow," as if that's all a woman
should aspire to. I'm sorry to say but many women out there don't
dream of just being a housewife. Maybe the original poster of this
thread had different reasons, but those are mine. I'd much rather get
my child (when I do have one) a variety of toys that way she can dream
to be anything she wants to be... not just dream to be a housewife...
I mean come on people this isn't the 1950s.

I just saw this today as well. I do not have children, and I found
this to be extremely sexist and insulting. You can bet that I sent
them an email as soon as I saw this commercial and I would like to
take further steps.

With all due respect, perhaps you shouldn't make comments on toys
until you have children of your own.

I am a full-time working professional with a degree, but more
importantly, I am also a mother. Having a career is great; and my
daughter is learning that she has that opportunity as well. BUT she
also sees me AND her father cook, clean, do laundry AND take care of
her (the baby). This is reality, and she mimics what WE do. This was
number one on her Christmas list this year.

If it would make you feel better, perhaps Hasbro should put out a
playhouse that looks more masculine with the same types of appliances
provided with the rose petal cottage. That way little boys could have
a playhouse of their own to learn to mimic these same types of tasks.
That, I believe, is the real issue.

maybe im missing something, but isnt this just a variation on toys
playskool and the like have made for years? and tonks makes trucks
right?
jsut a thought.
so lets get rid of cabbage patch kids, barbies, GI JOes, remote jets,
matchbox cars, etc. while we are at it.

Maybe more boys need this toy so they can learn the skills women look
for in a man.

Personally, I like the Tonka truck ad, especially since I had an
abundence of Tonka toys when I was a kid. What kills me every time is
the line "Boys; they're just built differntly. Some assembely
required."

I thought it very cute and am intending purchasing one for my grand
daughter. Girls like baby dolls. Some more so then others. My
daughter cut her barbies hair then decapitated them. She was a tomboy
and now she has the girliest little girl on the planet. So I dont
think that this toy will make any child more prone to being less
ambitious.

Besides God made us women the ones who are to carry life, so I expect
he wanted us to care for the babies we create. So its a natural and
instintive thing for girls to play with dolls.

How else are little girls supposed to learn their place in this world?

Aren't you the same Jessica who whined to Disney about High School
Musical 2?

Jessica, please stop complaining about such trivial things & get out
more.

It's not just this particular toy - many toys aimed at your girls are
like this. The little kitchen sets or fake pink miniature toy vacuum
cleaners or ironing boards...all that crap. Even though we have
progressed so far within the past century, some people still believe
that it's the woman's duty to be a good little wifelet and spend her
time in the kitchen, cleaning, or caring for a baby. It's kind of
scary that these values are being taught to children - like we need to
teach them their place early so they don't stray from the herd.

But my advice to anyone who doesn't want any little girls they know to
fall into society's trap, I suggest not buying the sexist girly toys
at all, because they are Hasbro's cash cow and they certainly will not
stop selling them. Get Susy a Transformers action figure, or a Creepy
Crawlers oven, or a toy chemistry kit (are these even sold anymore?).

Dear lord people like you make me ashamed I have a vagina!

I am a Second Amendment Sister, and an activist for battered women in
my area.

But it is NUTCASES LIKE YOU, Rosie O'Hatemen and some others who make
women everywhere look like a pack of rabid harpies out to castrate men
for our own pleasure.

Get a grip! Little girls like to play house! What would you prefer?
They all grab a tool belt and an empty beer can, and maybe fart more
often?

I bet I can guess why you do not have kids...

The maid? The husband? Her partner? Or both? Maybe all three if
they happen to be a diverse household with an open relationship, then
it could be the maid, husband and the partner Sheila, or Susy, or
something like that. They could sign up for days and rotate the
responsibilities. And then when the baby gets old enough he/she could
pitch in too to teach them how to actually take care of themselves.
That's how it worked in the household I grew up in.

I think there are far more important things to get your panties in a
wad about. I really do!

Peace!

are you kidding me? are you f****** kidding me? i support women being
independent and so on but guess what? even independent women have to
cook and clean! if you had a daughter and were a good parent(which i
highly doubt you'd be) then you would understand that most normal
little girls love the idea of cooking and cleaning and playing house.
i have three sisters and that is all they ever wanted to do growing
up. you are incredibly narrow minded. its people like you who are
responsible for taking society and destroying it. people like you are
the closed minded ignorant jerks who have taken things too far. jesus,
ive never even met you in person and i hate you.

Maybe if you had kids, you would know that little girls are naturally
nurturing and like to do these tasks. My husband and I both cook,
clean, and do the laundry and my daughter loves to help. I work full
time outside of the home as a paralegal and my husband is an
electrician. Cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry are a part of life,
no matter what sex you are!!!

I thought the same thing, I would buy my neice a doctors playset,
telescope or microscope...it would never occur to me to buy her a make
believe kitchen. Now if she told me she wanted one because she was
coercing one of her friends to play her housekeeper, that is different
lol.

That is funny you write this. I had to laugh at that commercial when I
first watched it. I could never imagine having a child and giving her
or him a toy where they could pretend to do laundry. Really, it would
be great if the real thing was as fun as what they showed on the
commercial.

It would be ever so wonderful if we could come up with toys for girls
that challenged them to think, build, create, instead of serve and do
the house work.

Ha, my mom bought a kitchen set ( not this one in particular, though)
for my niece and nephew, and the little boy plays with it all the
time, the little girl has no interest whatsoever.

Children like to immitate their parents or the adults around them, it
doesn't matter what gender the person is that they are immitating.
The way children learn to be adults is by immitation. That is why
this toy is not necessarily offensive.

To make it all pink and sparkly and obviously for girls ( and to have
only a little girl in the commercial) could be offensive. However,
little boys under the age of 3 probably would play with it if it were
in their home, they don't care what color it is.

Why can't parents do their job and not attempt to control everyone and
everything around them. If your friend doesn't want their little girl
playing with such a toy, here's a novel idea.... DON'T BUY IT FOR HER!
But the little girls who might find "playing house" to be fun will
enjoy such a toy. Some little girls would actually like to grow up and
be mothers who stay at home or even work from home and this is a
perfect little toy for them IF THEY ARE INTERESTED.
Children actually should be exposed to a wide variety of toys and
given choices in their lives and not have those choices dictated to
them by the parents.
Considering that you are a non-parent why don't you leave the
parenting to those of us with more experience. OK?

You know what else is insulting to girls? My breath. I mean, am I
right or am I right, ladies?

Wow...what planet did you just fly in from? Do you honestly believe
that this is a mind controlling toy that will turn any girl into a
robotic housefrau?
I'll let you in on a little secret...kids minds change from one week
to the next...little boys as well as little girls will probably enjoy
playing house with this toy and never be harmed in any way.
It may even teach them to be organized, think for themselves and make
decisions they are happy with.
Guess we'll have to hide the Barbie Dream House from you and your kids
huh?

It's hardly sexist. At that age, children have no idea what sexism is.
Toys are toys. Sure, there are stereotypical boy and girl toys.
However, there's nothing on the package that says "girls only" or
"specifically for your young boy."

My advice? Stop worrying so much about sexism and spend time with your
children. Let interaction and family shape their futures. Toys are for
fun. Families are for future.

Bravo to Hasbro.

I skimmed all of the replies here, and I apologize if I'm repeating
something already mentioned....


Why is it that cooking and cleaning are consistantly being referred to
only as something a "homemaker" does? I work full time as does my
husband, and we certainly can't afford a maid, so we both do plenty of
cleaning, cooking and caring for our children. No day care either, we
work nearly opposite schedules so one of us has been home with our
kids every single day since our oldest was born nearly 16 years ago.I
assume every other working parent has plenty of housework in their day
also. Hard to fit it all in when you're gone for 8-10 hours of the
day.


Secondly, someone in a reply somewhere mentioned that being a stay
home parent is a matter of choice. Maybe it is for some, but not for
all. I would LOVE to be able to do it, and have run the numbers a few
times to see if I could, but it just isn't possible for us. Even if we
gave up the few "luxuries" we have (second car, cable, internet...)
there still wouldn't be enough income to pay the basic necessary bills
without both of us working.

Shold I write to the company, (i forget which one) that showed a
toolset and had only little boys using it? By golly, that's
sexism.Bah. If a girl or boy wants to play with a play stove, and
vacuum then let them, they'll be learning how to do things for their
own home when they become independent. Just because a girl buys this
doesn't mean she'll end up a homemaker. And there is nothing wrong
with being a homeemaker BTW, for either gender.
As for teaching girls to cook. So? Haven't you heard of Paula Deen,
Rachel Ray, et al? They cook but are also otherwise sucessful. Oh, i
used toplay with tools but now i coulldn'y use a saw or hammer to save
my life. Just saying.

Dear Jessica,

We are currently retooling our Cottage per your request. We will
include toy HIV drug treatment kits, antifungal treatments, and other
non-sexist accessories that we feel will develop children's minds in a
fair and balanced manner.

In the meantime, we hope you will consider our Mr. Potatohead toy.
The current toy offers the following male and female outfits that can
be applied to the basic body:

Mermaid, Rockstar, Pirate, King, Princess, Firefighter, Construction
Worker, Halloween, Santa Claus, Chef, and Police Officer.

Sincerely,

Pringle Frenchfry
Hasbro Product Development

Here's a non-scientific study that I did.

My youngest son is 17 months old. He has a variety of age-appropriate
toys in his room, including dolls, trucks, musical items. He has
pajamas with dinosaurs, construction vehicles, doggies, bears.

He consistently makes happy sounds when he sees his trucks or wears
the construction pajamas. If I pull out non-truck pajamas, he'll go
into the drawer and pull out the construction ones and hand them to
me.

There's got to be something to this nature stuff.

Still, I hate trucks. I prefer cooking to football.

my girls love spiderman and superman and they think hotwheels are
cool. But they like Bratz and barbies. oh yeah my oldest daughter
loves to help me cook. I think it's great that like a little bit of
everything!

Whether a girl grows up to be a doctor, lawyer, computer engineer or a
rocket scientist, SHE WILL STILL BE DOING MOST OF THE HOUSEWORK! So
she might as well have fun with it when she is little...haha!

I have 4 girls, and even though she's slightly too old at age 7, my
yougest daughter said after we saw the commercial " I want that Mom!"
She is a pretty girly girl, but she also loves to fish and camp.I
think each child really decides for themselves what they want to play
with- she's into My Little Pony, American Girl and Barbie. Since you
don't have any children, maybe you should reserve judgement and just
switch the channel when toy commercials come on, since they make you
so enraged? This would be like me getting angry at the commercial that
shows 2 men hunting- what? No women? Let me call the company and
complain because they are sexist!( I don't hunt, but my sis in law
does- you get my drift,though.)

Toys shouldn't shape your child, YOU should!

http://planetfeedback.typepad.com/mommage/2007/11/sexism-is-alive.html


Deb says she's sexist when it comes to boy and girl toys.

Come by and check it out. What do you think?

I had three brothers. I had no interest in playing with dolls, cooking
sets, or playing house. When a friend of my mum's gave me a Barbie, I
melted it on the oven. I played with my Transformer and played
football and climbed trees.

Yet, as an adult woman, I cook, clean my flat, wear makeup and wear
skirts and high heels. I guess the toys I played with as a child made
no difference to how I eventually turned out. XD

This woman reminds me of the hysterics who scream when they see a
little boy playing with Barbie or asking for a toy cooker for
Christmas. Honestly, how about you go tell Rick Stein or Gordon Ramsey
that cooking is girly? *snicker*

It's a toy. I saw a little blonde stuffed doll at the dollar general
that was a doctor. Does that mean all little girls should be doctors?
Don't take it quite so seriously.

Oy. This one hurts my head. Make it stop!

The Rose Petal Cottage is not sexist. Tell me something, do you go
around writing letters like this to Little Tikes, too? Because they
make all kinds of outdoor play houses marketed to girls, too.

Both girls and boys like to imitate their parents. I happen to be a
SAHM myself, and my daughter likes to help me cook, she helps me
clean, and she actually loves this Rose Petal Cottage and is begging
for it for Christmas.

This is not a Bad Thing. She still knows she can be whatever she wants
to be when she grows up, and that I encourage all of her ambitions, no
matter what they are. By the way, she also loves to play with
racetracks, pretend her rocking chair in her bedroom is a racecar (she
sets it up with a steering wheel and everything), and her current
ambition for when she grows up is to be a doctor.

So I guess that kind of throws your theory about the Rose Petal
Cottage quashing little girls' ambitions out of the window, so to
speak, doesn't it?

I'm kind of insulted, but not surprised, by the premise of this
letter. What's the big deal? Would it be less insulting if it were a
male child?

I'm a man who was raised by a woman with the foresight to teach her
sons to cook and clean and run a home, for the sole reason that she
believes that no one should ever be totally dependent on someone else
to fulfill their basic needs, regardless of gender. It's something
that's served me very well all my life. The year was 1958.

I'm sorry, I have to throw my 2 cents in to this.

While I have not (yet) read all the comments, I ahave to say this:

Whne I was younger I had a wooden kitchen set. I LOVED the thing!! I
played "house" for days on end with it.

LEter as I got older, I found out that Barbie's head flys REALLY far
when you strap a firecracker to her back! Hot wheels were the best!
And the kitchen became firewood.

Now I am 29, can cook ONLY enough to keep me alive (my husband cooks
better than I do)

Let the kids play with what they want to

Hey, if my SON wants to learn how to cook, GREAT! It would be great
for my kid to learn how to be self sufficient when he grows up, so
that he does not end up on PlanetFeedBack writing letters complaining
that people will not wait on him hand and foot. That, and it would be
nice for my wife and I to NOT cook!

Without going into details and hoping you'll trust me on this... I've
done it all. I had a career, then a family, then family and career at
the same time, then due to circumstances beyond my control, became a
full time homemaker. I can now say that running a household is by far
the most challenging thing I have ever done. It doesn't require only
one talent or one area of knowledge, like most occupations, but
instead demands knowledge and knowhow of just about everything, if you
want to get the job done right.

I really don't know what my point is here, except that knowledge and
experience are good, and if someone enjoys playing house or fixing
cars, they shouldn't let their gender get in the way. Anything you
learn how to do as a child will be an advantage to you as an adult. A
child should never be made to feel that his or her preferences are
inappropriate. They should be encouraged to do what they enjoy and
feel comfortable doing. That's how they grow up to be well-rounded
adults, capable of running households of their own.

who came here a year or so ago to pitch a fit over the sexism in Walt
Disney movies and not portraying enough female heroines?

Please, get over yourself.

Ageism, Sexism, Racism only exists in the minds of the people who
complain about it. 95% of the time, the situation is completely
innocent and someone with an axe to grind got "offended."

Seriously, don't you have better injustices to fight in this world
than a toy that encourages family values?

Or perhaps you'd like the new Playskool Meth Lab that will be out this
Christmas!

I'm going to echo the prevailing sentiment once more.
This toy is in no way insulting. It just shows kids one of the many
options they have for when they "grow up". The same way that
Astronaut Barbi and those little army guy playsets do.
Peanut plays with his trucks and his toys all day long. He pretends
to build things with his toy tractors and dumptrucks. He also LOVES
to help me do the laundry (you should see him if I dare to turn the
machine on. That's HIS job!!), do the dishes, and take care of the
baby. When I make dinner, I pull up a chair right next to me on the
counter and he "helps" me cut up the food (he puts his hand on my arm
while I cut) and to stir the bowls of whatever.
Right now I'm an aspiring homemaker only because I haven't officially
quit my job yet. I had 10 weeks off total for my pregnancy and then
Peanut had to go into the hospital with appendicitis so I'm on FMLA
time now. Truth be told, I would MUCH rather be home with the kids
than at work. I'll never get these years back and I certainly don't
want some day care person having all the joy of watching my kids grow
up!
I do not feel that this in any way makes me less of a woman. Right
now, the right thing for me to do is to be at home. I've had a career
and once my youngest is a little older, I fully intend to go back to
school, probably to become an RN. Who knows what I'll do in 10 years?
I have all the options ahead of me (as do my kids) and who are you to
say what the right one is for anyone but yourself?????

Perhaps you would find Hasbro's Potato Petal Cottage more to your
liking.

Housework should certainly be taught to both genders. There are far to
many men out there who can't do their own laundry and far to many
people who can't cook a basic meal. But many posters point out that
girls gravitate towards girl toys and boys towards boys toys, this is
really not because of any chemical or physical trait of the gender.
Young children recognize gender roles because that is what they see
when they look at parents and other children, as well as commercials
and TV programs. A girl who is raised without the influence of TV
family and peers would presumably be as likely to play with toys we
feel are geared towards boys. It isn't even until later in early
childhood that the genders are even recognized by children as a
difference. I can't remember what age (and my educational psychology
teacher my kill me for it). PS If I could aford to stay home and be a
housewife I would love to.

Look. Boys and girls are wired differently. It's just a biological
and genetic fact. The genders tend to communicate in different ways,
tend to solve problems in different ways, tend to PLAY in certain
ways. Why not let little girls play house, and then also get them
some "boy" toys like cars, erector sets, etc.? Explose both genders
to toys, games and activities of all kinds and let their developing
interests guide them in their play and exploration.

Signed,

Angela, The Laundry Goddess who Communicates Like a Man

Let's see here. This toy is teaching children to learn houskeeping,
cooking and generally take care of her family. What kind of insult is
that? Little girls can learn how to be strong, independent women
through play. Yes, the toy is targeted to girls; super hero toys are
targeted to boys. Male and female are different, in case you haven't
noticed. That doesn't make one better or smarter than the other.
Hasbro makes great toys that develop kid's minds. Rose Petal Cottage
is one of them. Too bad they don't make one to improve your narrow
mind.

My son has a pink washing machine, a kitchen set, a small stroller, a
small pack-and-play, a baby doll, and other similar things. While he
may focus his time, these days, on other things, he was very happy
with these particular things for the longest time. And still, at
almost 5, will spend time playing "house" and "restaurant."

He helps with folding the real laundry, with the real cooking, and
some of the care of his baby brother.

If he was a girl, do you think I should discourage him from
participating in these activities simply because girl's shouldn't be
taught about laundry, cooking, and child care?

Sexism is one of my major issues, but I do not object to toys that
teach about cooking, laundry, baby care.

Why?

Because most people (men and women) will need to do laundry and cook
in their lives. Many will also care for children.

As long as girl's aren't being taught that this is the ONLY thing in
life... or that boys are taught to avoid these things... it's fine.

A toy like this is one that's about playing out being like their
parent.

Kids need to play "laundry" just as much as they need to play
"office."

My mom is a strong, funny, intelligent woman with opinions and ideas
about a range of things from politics to literature. She is a
self-described "quietly militant" feminist, and she worked in our home
until I was 13 years old. She raised me to understand that true
feminism is about choice. We, as women, can decide individually to
get married or not, to have children or not, to stay home with them or
not. The key word is "individually." What works for you may not work
for another woman, and that is fine. But it's not for you to decide
which life choices are fulfilling for other women and which aren't.

My daughter is MMR. She is learning IN SCHOOL to cook, clean, and do
laundry. It's called life skills, and I honestly don't see anything
wrong with little girls (or little boys, for that matter!) using toys
to learn how to cook/do laundry/take care of a baby. As a matter of
fact, I think MORE kids should play with toys like that so they won't
be so shell shocked when getting out in the real world.

If you don't like these toys, by all means, don't buy them. But don't
demand that everybody should feel the same way and have them removed
from the shelves! These toys develop kids minds as well.

Aren't there more important things to bitch about in life than a
children's toy commercial? I mean, come on now.

So you would like to see Hasbro quit selling that product because
somehow YOU find it offensive? What about the thousands or millions
of other people out there who just might think it would make a great
present for their kid? What gives you the right to dictate to that
multitude what presents should or shouldn't be bought?

You do realize that Rose Petal Cottage is not the first play house
ever to be invented don't you?

So, where's your complaint about all of those Hot Wheels commercials
that only feature boys?
Isn't that sexist, too?

Children imitate their parents.

And most of them are a lot more likely to regularly see their parents
doing chores around the house than doing their jobs outside the home.
I really never did get a clear idea of what my father did all day at
the office, but I sure did see him mowing the lawn a lot. I never had
a clear idea of most of what my mother -- who was a stay-at-home
mother for most of my childhood -- did while I was at school either
(in fairness, this wasn't information I sought out), but I did see her
cooking dinner. And yes, my parents had a pretty stereotypical
division of labor, but that doesn't mean that I accepted that it was
going to be that way for me too -- or that it turned out that way
later on.

Yes, I'd like to see this sort of thing being shown as an appropriate
toy for both boys and girls (though I recognize that in the US at the
end of 2007 the rose petal decor is unlikely to attract boys as
successfully as it does girls), and yes, if I were giving it to a
child of either sex I would make sure that wasn't the *only* kind of
toy I looked at for that kid. I wouldn't want to send any child the
message that they were "supposed" to be any one thing when they grew
up. But I do think that any kid who turns 18 or leaves for college
ought to be prepared to do his or her bit around the house, and I do
not think it is insulting to anyone to encourage them to explore those
future responsibilities through play. It can only be insulting in the
larger context of what else is available for girls to play with, and
it seems to me that parents who have enough money to get their
daughters Rose Petal Cottages have access to a pretty wide range of
choices about what kind of play they're going to support or promote
with their money.

Hmmmmmmmm, maybe you can just maybe not purchase it. This is a free
market, you like it, you buy, you dont like it, you dont. Grow up!

DON'T YOU DARE! You crazy woman!!! I am expecting a little girl next
month, and as soon as I saw this, I told my husband "That is so cute!
I would have loved one of those when I was little!" I'm HOPING they
still make it in a year or two when she is old enough to play with it,
because I think it will make an excellent Christmas or birthday gift.
I wish they had that when I was little. And if you think it's sexist:
1. When I was little, I also played sports, and with Matchbox cars and
GI Joe and Masters of the Universe toys. Now I am a grown woman who
does her own oil changes, and also can change a tire and drive a
stick.
2. My son (3) will probably love to play with his sister with this
toy, because he loves doll houses and toy kitchens. He also loves
vaccuums.

So quit trying to ruin things for everyone else. As I'm reading this,
I notice you say "my friend's little girl". Do you even have kids? Why
do you care? If learning to "take care of the baby" is such a horrible
ambition for little girls, then I pray that you never, EVER have kids,
because I'm sure you'll be a horrible parent.

End hormonal pregnant lady rant.

I had a play kitchen set as a child.

For the life of me, I can't cook (well, i cant say thats 100% true, i
have learned to feed myself since moving out of moms). So thats an
example of how toys like that don't necessarily dictate what you are
going to do in life.

Either way, to each their own. You may want to encourage more...
creative type toys for your children, but some parents are perfectly
content raising their children to how they see fit.

Did you know that toy companies sell Dr. sets? My son is getting a
workbench and tools for Christmas. I've seen Superman and Spiderman
outfits in stores when it isn't even Halloween. Does that mean that
toy companies shouldn't manufacture these items either? I mean,
giving my daughter a Dr. set might give her the impression that I want
her to grow up to be a Dr. Giving my son a Spiderman outfit might be
detrimental to him because he might think he's supposed to grow up to
BE Spiderman. When I worked in a daycare, do you know what all
children liked to play with most? Doll houses. Do you know why?
Because they liked to roll play. They liked to play house. That's
because whether their parents work or not, they see their parents
"playing" house when they are with them. They want to mimic their
parents. I don't believe this is such a bad thing. In fact in this
day and age, some kids/young adults I know could use to cook and clean
and do laundry.

It's because of the demand for these kind of toys that keeps them on
the market in the first place. Many girls love these kind of toys,
and from what I see in this toy it is familiarizing a girl with some
life skills while still being play.

One the one hand, I listed people who care for STRANGERS, putting
themselves out there for people they don't know and leaving themselves
open for abuse, violence and general disregard for their efforts to
help. Parents on the other hand seem to find it difficult to care for
someone who is predisposed to love them. Can you see where I'm going
with this? I have no doubt that it is a hard thing to do, facing the
same thing day after day, but I don't see how it equates to the way
cops, soldiers and other social/civil servants risk life, limb and
emotional wellbeing to care for strangers.

This is something only a parent could understand. The love I feel for
my children is boundless, and no "stranger" can ever measure up to it.
I still hold firm to my opinion, parenting is the hardest, most
rewarding job around! Hands down.

I didn't see the commercial, so I can't comment on it, but I can
imagine what it must contain. However, let me make a few points.

First, I have a lot of friends who have both boy and girl children.
What I've heard from them is that, no matter what they do, the girls
gravitate towards dolls and other similar toys, and the boys tend to
gravitate towards trucks, etc. A friend of mine has tried to interest
his little girl in cars, but no dice. My niece, who is 2 1/2, also
prefers playing with dolls, shopping carts, and has a little play
kitchen. She passes her time playing "mom", but she also passes her
time reading, chasing the dog, and banging on her play drum kit.

Second, they have plenty of educational toys out there for both girls
and boys. I'm sure Hasbro makes several.

Third, I had toys like this growing up, as I'm sure you did too, and
trust me; I'm far from the "domesticated little woman" you'd think I'd
be. As a poster said below me, it's more important that the parents
not limit the child to a few stereotypical roles.

Fourth, eventually girls grow out of toys like this. When you're five,
it's fun to "play house", but when you're ten, it's more fun to play
"tag." I think the Rose Petal Cottage probably serves a need for a
specific age group.

Last, like Venice below me, I think it's also insulting to insinuate
that being a housewife (for lack of a better term) is somehow less
important than other careers. In the end, it's about choice.

So, what is wrong with learning how to cook, do laundry and take care
of children. These are life skills. Even career women cook and
clean.

Believe it or not, little girls like to emulate their mothers and this
toy helps them do it.

I've seen the commercial, Jessica and I understand your point.
However, Hasbro is not going to quit selling the product. Lots of
women had these type of toys as children with no ill effects.

Probably a better suggestion would have been to ask Hasbro (not
demand) to include BOYS in the commercial as well. I realize that's
not their target demographic, but that's certainly more reasonable
that your demand.

BTW - I should tell you that I am female and an attorney and there is
no place I'd rather be than in my kitchen. I have more than one
passion in this world. There's nothing wrong with it. I think it's
insulting to little girls that you think that pretending to cook is
wrong.

They should have also included some more features to "pass the time":
toilet cleaning, vacuuming and scrubbing floors!

The year is 2007 and your complaint is an insult to all the mothers
who take satisfaction is raising a family. Not every woman aspires to
work 12 hours a day, put her kids in daycare just to buy a house they
never see and a car they only sit in traffice with.

Your antequated opinion of a woman's role is whack! A woman/girl has a
choice, Hasbro is just offering one of many, if you don't like it,
don't buy it!

Clete

While I have not seen the commercial yet, I can tell you that I grew
up with the giant plastic baby doll cribs, the fake washing machine,
and the plastic kitchen... I loved playing 'house' and it was one of
my favorite games. I also took the boxes those big toys came in, sawed
holes in the side, and played 'spaceship'. Then it became a firetruck,
then a cave....

A child's mind is not limited to what toys are set in front of them.
Having a play washing machine and stove did not permanently set my
mind onto wanting to be like Mommy for the rest of my life. I loved
playing 'house', it was my favorite game... but that's all it was... a
game. The best thing for young children is to always tell them they
can be anything they want to be. They'll listen.

Who among us can have a baby? Women. OK. So that means that one of
these three complaints is taken care of. As far as laundry and
cooking, hey I do those for myself. I am a man. I assume these are
good life skills for women, as well.

Just because this product teaches three things that are historically
the province of women doesn't mean it is bad, IMO. This doesn't
prevent a parent from finding other toys to spark a young lady's
imagination.

Why is it insulting? Hasbro is simply acknowledging that not every
little girl aspires to be Astronaut Barbi. Whether you want to believe
it or not, it is the ambition of some girls to be homemakers, which
includes cooking, laundry and taking care of the children. To tell a
young girl that her ambition is mindless is the ultimate insult.

I haven't seen the commercial but I looked up the item and found it to
be delightful. My only objection is that Hasbro did not market this
toy for girls and boys alike.

I think the attitude behind your letter is insulting.

Amen!! I saw this ad too and immediately was angry