Toy Selection and Gender Roles - Case Study Example

Introduction Developing and understanding ones roles starts right at the childhood stage and particularly during play times at the play grounds. This process is usually important to not only the parents but also to the teachers because they need to build on this fact. Gender roles are usually apparent when children of both sexes are interacting with one another1. However, before children become aware of these gender roles, they tend to develop some attachment to the toys they buy or see their friends with. Thus their roles and acceptance are manipulated by their environment, peers, parents, teachers and the society in general. This paper intends to get preliminary research on the way at which children below the age of five years behave while at the play ground. It will analyze the findings of how they will react or interact with each other as a result of possessing a specific kind of toy. It will also from an analytical point of view look at the relationship between the choice of a toy by a target participant and their perceived roles while playing with each other in the play ground. The main aim of this study is to understand the relationship between children’s toy selection and gender-roles and also acceptance as observed in the play grounds. The findings are replicated to conform to what other researchers in the past have linked the three issues above. Specifically, I shall become a participant/observant in the whole process and take part in noting the behaviors of the children with reference to the toys they own. A co-nomination type of monitoring is applied while singling out every child in terms of the various types of toys owned by the children. By summarizing how many social interactions and the rate of acceptance of each child to their peers Hypothesis There is an already built up assumption that children tend to associate more with specific toys and may become afflicted with specific types of the toys. The roles of these children become more pronounced by the way they particularly take care of these toys. It is believed that children begin to adopt responsible behaviors right at the beginning of this tender age. In addition, there is an assumption that more children tend to acquire and strengthen their roles in the society by exercising them through their toys. This hypothesis is strong and can guide people including parents to build on that basis. Female and male children while at this stage are not sensitive of their roles within their peers but there is some sense of responsiveness to some kind of actions by the different sexes. Taking an example of a child playing the role of a mother to a toy baby is some kind of proof that it is possible for a girl child to understand even at the age of four years that it is her responsibility to feed the baby. It is even more amazing that the boy child is becoming more responsive to provide some fatherly concerns to the toy baby they have. Child development theories Many psychologists have in the past developed theories to try and explain the way children attach importance to their toys as a way of imitation from what is normally happening in real life situations. These theories suggest that children gain some form of understanding while taking part in their peer interactions at the play ground. These theories tend to go by the assumption that it is possible to have children improve their role identification and acceptance status among their peers. This means that it is a crucial stage of life and should be properly utilized to reap the benefits thereafter. The theories also assume that gender roles are usually prevalent beliefs within all age setting and children’s groups particularly the concept of the dream of being responsible one day just like their parents, uncles or grand parents. The typical behaviors of these young people are so outlined that they are manifested directly at the tender ages and a sociological researcher can get the understanding of that setting if one is very observant and careful. Actually, for any child to understand their roles and acceptance within their peer groups, they try to realize how these attitudes and beliefs are formed and exercised. First, particularly for children between the ages of 3-4 years, they use the verbal expressions to understand what roles their senior’s practice rather seeing. They belief that, what one is told to do is already an indication of what their roles would be in future Child development researchers believe that, what children are being told to do by their parents automatically relates to their roles in the society. They also believe that it is possible for children to be guided to accept one another through meaningful interactions. Researchers have found out that children between the ages of 4-5 years know that; People acquire different roles through perpetual means Different people have different roles in the family or society Actions are guided by beliefs Recognizing behavioral stability entails the fact that there is a psychological component to traits that causes the development of certain behaviors. Acceptance for example has a lot to do with the kind of character a child has. A child who is extremely bullish is somehow not readily accepted by his or her peers as their motives are not directly known. It is therefore possible that as early as kindergarten, children are able to consider overt behaviors as condition for acceptance. Toys Toys are beginning to be part and parcel of life in this society. Children are beginning to become part of the society through the adoption of toys as part of their living style. The idea is quite pronounced in the developed countries where economies are stable. However, in some continents like Africa and other poor continents where diseases, food and basic needs are a priority and children’s toys are just leisure’s, parents and kids as alike do not attach importance to them. Recent child development scientists have recommended the adoption of ‘good’ toys by parents to help mould their children behaviors, role definition and other character trait development2. The selection for particular type of toys is critical in outlining the way one is accepted not only by their own family members but also by their peers. Owing to the fact that children may want to own what either their family members have in their possession or what their peers in school have. As a step to becoming somewhat possessive, children love to have toys of their own to call it ‘my own’. From that, they will be able for build their responsibilities through the toys they have in their possession. The play ground The play ground is one of the most important sites children may want to spend most of their time at. This is where children interact with their peers, try their hands on anything or play their favorite games. To understand this research topic very well, I have chosen the play ground as a good site for getting the information. First, the culture of acceptance is clearly demonstrated here. It is also specifically designed to meet the needs of these young ones in terms of facilities, guidance etc. Method of research The method of research to be used for collating these findings is the principle of being part of the public setting. Children in a playing field will be expected to choose different toys which will be used as the basis of judging their related behaviors with reference to the aggressive role status of each of the members of the peer group selected for the study. The number of children to be observed will be twenty children. Examining the variation of sex and how it will affect the child’s attitude towards owning specific toys. There will be three different types of observations that will be made at the play ground. The first observation will be a visit to the public setting and a strategic position may be at the middle of the play ground where all activities will be centered. The public setting since it will be a play ground for children under the age of five years; it will be a visit to the play ground of a Texas kindergarten school. The second will be the way children chose or select their toys given the opportunity to do so especially when they are with their peers. The third will be observing their interactions within the groups of the children having chosen different toys. Public setting Depending on the culture, family, societal and environmental settings, the children are expected to behave differently towards another. Considering my current location, it is possible to have a cosmopolitan society where cultures are mixed up but the current mode of societal behaviors is considered not defined enough. The public may not vary much on what is happening in U.S, Europe, Japan or other developed countries but the behaviors become more related as societies mix up in countries such as the U.S. Toy selection To avoid such possible corruption of research findings, it was seen necessary to provide a variety of toys to children and allow tem to choose them freely. The first thing that was noticed is the fact that children liked what was liked by their peers. Those children who picked what was very different from the rest were looked at as a lone rangers but the majority chose what the rest feel comfortable with. Observing playground interactions It was necessary that two observers work simultaneously in the same play field. One of the observers was to record the target child’s behavior while the other observer monitors the descriptions of children’s behaviors in terms of role playing specifically towards the toys they have selected. How these children particularly provide care and protection to the toys is very important because its indication of responsibility. Possible obtrusiveness The unmistakable effects that are obsessive to the smooth observation are the too many varied types of toys among the twenty children. With this, is not possible to have a benchmark by the observer. This makes it difficult to gauge the effect of having chosen a specific toy by a child. Since every child may think that it is possible to own more than one type of toy depending on their preferences, it was difficult to find the exact preference for every child. Summary of findings The number of children who chose toys of ‘babies’ of different sexes i.e. the females choosing male baby toys were observed to be higher than those having female baby toys. Another finding was that the number of children having toys of animals was higher than those having any other type of toys. Some children are noticed to even bathe their toys, feed them and dress them very well just like what their parents do at home. About 60% of the children are also observed to find it difficult to accept ach others attitudes and their behaviors. Although the observation is subject to individual development and style of upbringing, it is a clear indication of the way children take one another with respect accepting their behaviors. Of the twenty children, about a third of them were observed to go for toys which could in some cases have some form of life or more responsive than the others. The children also were readily able to interact by themselves without any form of inducement to do so at the play ground. Analysis of observations The contribution of culture in gender development is very important. It is possible to model the approaches of culture in early childhood development process3. The ability of a child to relate to his or her peers in conjunction with the predetermined hypothesis is very important. Actually, it is in contrast that more children attach their acceptance of one another just because they think alike. The dichotomous thinking can be rejected or accepted regardless of the biological sex of the participants. Having masculine or feminine attachments in the toys children have is common in the playground. Going by the premise that ethnic identification in children starts at the ender age may be true but not actually supported by any scientific proof but all studies as result of changes in societal and environmental issues such as the emotional attachment of children to the toys they own is very important for their development. The assumption that children are able to acquire specific roles and some form of attachment through toys is evidently possible. The way children clearly choose their toys directly influence the way they will respond to their upkeep. Conclusion The hypothesis that children attach some for of life and importance the toys they want to have is real and critical for child development. Most children would want to have in their possession what their peers have hence making the choice of toy in relation to preference difficult. Although the observations could not provide a direct relationship with the hypothesis made, there is some indication the toy selection and gender roles and acceptance are interrelated. Reference Liben, L.S. and Bigler, R.S. (2002): The developmental course of gender differentiation: Conceptualizing, measuring, and evaluating constructs and pathways. Monographs of the Society for Researching Child Development, Serial No. 269, Vol 5 pp 23-67 Lynn, S. L. (2004): Cultural Development and Gender Development: Shared Concepts, Methodologies and Challenges: The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Penn., USA. Pp 179-184 Valerie, H. and Bradford, H. P. (2006): Children’s Understanding of Reputations; Department of Psychology: Northern Illinois University. Heldref Publications; the Journal of Genetic Psychology, 2006, 167(2), 137–157 Yuill, N. (1992): Children’s conception of personality traits. Human Development, 35, 265–279 Read More