As a child, most girls who are in high school now were given Barbies, American Girl dolls and every other different type of doll possible. Most boys were given Legos, transformers, or toy cars. While this is a very familiar difference for most of us, this difference may soon become nonexistent.

The debate over gender segregation of toys has always been a hot topic, but recently it has heated up. Retail giant Target recently announced a more gender neutral effort in which the store has phased out gender-specific toys and products in order to attempt to cease gender stereotypes, and many other stores have followed in their footsteps. 

This effort is not the first of it‘s kind. In 2012, the Let Toys Be Toys campaign began promoting their effort. The group describes their mission in a few key goals. They believe that:

1. Kids should decide for themselves what they think is fun.
2. Children need a wide range of play to develop different skills.
3. Directing consumers in this way is restricting children’s play.
4. The real world has moved on. These gender stereotypes are tired and out of date.

Both boys and girls can benefit from a wide range of toys. Every genre of toys focuses on a key skill that will be helpful later in life. Toys focused on action, construction and technology hone spatial skills, foster problem solving and encourage children to be active.  Toys focused on role play and small-scale theater allow them to practice social skills. Arts and crafts are good for fine motor skills and perseverance. Both boys and girls need development in these key areas, but stores tend to divide toys into boys and girls sections which hinders this development. Neutral toys also help eliminate harmful gender stereotypes later on in life. These dangerous stereotypes are harder to shake later on in life, and we need to make sure that hurtful ideas such as gender stereotypes are not forced onto children – especially not from such an early age.