By Geri Nikolai
Gannett News Service

Toddler boys like to play with strollers and kitchen sets as much as little girls do.

Still, by age 5 or so, most will tell you those toys are for girls.

HOW KIDS PLAY

Recent observations of children in preschool and day-care settings: Younger boys and girls play with dolls and trucks with no thought of being a boy or girl. Older kids of both genders like blocks, but around 5, the boys start shying away from kitchen play and the girls from cars and trucks. The kids do occasionally hear they shouldn't play with something because it's a boy or girl toy. Sometimes an older brother or sister tells them.

Whether it's social conditioning or genetic development, most kindergarten boys wouldn't be caught dead with a baby doll.

Child-care worker Melissa Clark of Rockville, Ill., has seen the progression.

"In the 2-year-old room, you'll see little boys with strollers, vacuums and dolls and little girls with trucks and blocks. But the older they get, the more they say a certain toy is for girls or for boys," says Clark.

In general, parents are pretty relaxed about the issue of toy selection and gender roles. While some make an effort to introduce gender-neutral toys, many are comfortable with the fact that girls love Barbies and boys go for trucks.

Research supports the notion that it's a natural phenomenon, not a sexist scheme. Studies by Texas A&M University psychologist Gerianne Alexander show that monkeys, like children, pick their toys based on gender.

Male monkeys spent more time playing with cars or balls than females, who spent more time with dolls and pots. They spent equal amounts of time with gender-neutral items like picture books and stuffed dogs.

Alexander says that research shows most boys and girls are drawn to different types of toys no matter what their parents or society teach them.

Winona Patterson, whose favorite toys as a preschooler were a doctor kit and carpenter kit, was working in a Chicago-area toy store a few years ago and a customer wanted similar birthday gifts for her twin boy and girl, adding that her son liked doctor toys.

Patterson showed her a doctor kit perfect for 3-year-olds and suggested a matching carpenter kit for the girl.

"Her jaw dropped, and she said in astonishment, 'I can't buy that for her - that's a boy's toy,' " recalls Patterson, who dutifully led the mom to the "Pepto-Bismol pink section."

Mark Atkinson, father of 10-year-old Kaitlin, can see how a little girl would like a carpenter set.

"My daughter likes old muscle cars and can name the make and model," Atkinson says. But "she has a Barbie doll collection that dwarfs almost any girl's."

To develop well-rounded sons, Atkinson suggests having a boy help with the laundry or cooking as a way of "touching the female side without molding him into a boy who gets (teased) because he doesn't play with dinosaurs and Hot Wheels."