Why girls prefer to play with dolls and boys with cars is one of the great questions that parents ask ourselves and about which all kinds of theories have been raised.
There are those who maintain that it is a social imposition, that we influence children to opt for one or the other, while others claim that it is due to a genetic phenomenon, as an investigation by Texas A&M University in the United States has concluded.
According to the study, genes are what determine children's preferences for more feminine toys like Barbies or more masculine like trucks. The choice, they say, is attributed to genetic programming based on the child's sex.
They have also verified that preferences are given from very small. They have studied the behavior of 30 babies between 3 and 8 months of age, not yet exposed to social pressures, who have been shown a doll and a truck inside a puppet theater in two 10-second intervals.
The boys were more attracted to the toy truck, while the girls by the doll, which suggests that environmental influences would reinforce this innate predisposition, without imposing a sexist model.
According to my own experience with girls (and it is an absolutely personal experience) I agree with the theory that preference is innate, although there may be other influences. The way they play with babies can only respond to the maternal instinct that every woman has and that manifests itself from childhood.
According to the researchers, the toys chosen by boys involve action and movement, while those of girls are quieter. But they go further. They consider that the genetic preference for certain toys dates back to ancient times in which men, more active, went out to hunt for food, while women were taking care of and feeding their children.
What do you think? Do you think it is a preference marked by genes, which is influenced by the social environment, or a combination of both?
