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If you’ve seen my posts on facebook or twitter, you may already know that my kids are starting to show an interest in legos. When my mother-in-law came to visit, she took the kids to the toy store and my son immediately chose a set to make a truck. My daughter, while at the store, discovered Lego Friends, a series designed to appeal to girls.

Lego Friends sets are not for building rocket ships or airplanes. Instead they feature things like bake shops and plenty of bright pink bricks. I have really mixed feelings about them. At the store, my daughter, without any prompting, automatically referred to them as “the girlish legos”- implying that the other, regular legos were really for boys. This made my husband and me a bit upset. (He told her all the legos where for boys AND girls.)

I’ve seen a lot of posts online about Lego Friends, and other people dealing with the gender issues it brings up. But what I haven’t seen, are similar articles on boys and crafting. There are men who crochet and knit, but they are far outnumbered at yarn groups by the number of women there. And I think, if we’re going to encourage our daughters to build airplanes, it behooves us to show our sons how to chain stitch as well.