I an very pleased to welcome Karen from the blog Raising Mighty Girls, with a guest post today. Karen feels like I do about children's toys; they are for everyone, and whether your boy wants to play with a doll in a pushchair, or your girl asks Santa for an army tank, they should be allowed to play without labels or judgement. So, over to Karen.

Raising my mighty girls means creating play opportunities which encourage interaction with ALL sorts of toys. With no boys in our house, this means that I need to be proactive about creating these experiences. I believe that doing this creates a balanced choice for them.

It's up to me to provide the 'balance'. After that, it's their decision about what they prefer to play with. It doesn’t really matter to me whether it’s a pink baby doll or a blue monster truck. The important thing is that they're having fun! And hopefully learning something useful in the process!

Give my youngest daughter a doll and she’ll love it. Give her a sword and she’ll love it too. She just wants to play with ‘fun’ toys.

#LetToysBeToys

I don’t vote against ‘pink’. I don't vote for 'blue'.

I vote for ‘balance’.

A balanced ‘play experience’.

Does it annoy me when we walk into a toy store and are forced to choose between walking down the ‘pink road’ or the ‘blue road’? Hell yes!

But it has to be said that most of the major toy stores are beginning to listen to consumers and groups like #LetToysBeToys and are making noticeable changes to the way products are manufactured, marketed and displayed. I could talk all day about gender marketing of toys. But that's a post for another day.

Anyways, the youngest has adored Jake and The Neverland Pirates since last Autumn, so she received the Pirate Ship with Jake, Izzie and Cubby for her birthday. And Santa brought a few other items in his sack at Christmas. Finally at the end of June, she emptied her money box and bought Skull Island.

#RaisingMightyGirls - Really?

Yes, this blog IS about raising girls to be mighty! So before, you get confused about why I would encourage play where the 'boy' is the leader, remember I encourage play with a balance of toys.

Today, we had friends round to play and she insisted on being Jake and leaving Izzy for the little boy. She doesn’t see the characters as boys and girls. She sees it as ‘Jake is the dude, the leader, the most fun. And I want to be him!'

The youngest Gribbon Girl doesn't see Jake as a 'boy', she seems him as the 'leader'. I love that she's aspiring to be the leader.

I love this toy brand – it promotes creativity, imagination, friendship, sharing with others, problem solving and mathematics (perfect for the current drive to encourage girls into STEM areas),

But it's not perfect. Definitely not. Can you recommend one that is? Let me know. I'd love to check it out.

Do you know how to 'Talk Like A Pirate'?

Just for a laugh...

Check out this link - How To Talk Like A Pirate - we had such a giggle with it!

Live Long and Prosper Buckos!

Karen x