Classic H of H: Boys, Girls, and Toys

This is Part 2 of my post about Custer. Have you found similar boy vs. girl situations? I think it's hilarious!


Remember Custer?

The other night when we found him (again), I asked my husband (again) WHY we still have him, especially since he's "broken." He has moved with us to five houses in two different regions. (The answer was that he's been saving him for J.)

The thing that bothered me most, though, is that Custer has always had a missing hand. For the first time in all these years it occurred to me to question the loss of the general's hand.

So, I questioned. "Why is he missing a hand?"

My husband demonstrated the cause for me. He picked up Custer, slung him up into the air and watched him land a few feet away. Evidently little boys wield their dolls as weapons.

Oh. So that’s what happened.

Well, being a girl and all, I was aghast. Custer’s bodily harm coming from such a violent act never even crossed my mind. That’s because I’m a girl, apparently.

L continued to describe the punishment meted out to poor George. He was pelted with dirt clods, he was crushed with rocks, and abused with countless other attacks.

I decided to perform a sociological experiment by polling two young people (one male, and one female) about a single toy. You'll probably recognize them.

Me: "J, would you like to take Custer outside and throw snowballs at him?"

J: "YES! That sounds like fun."

Me: "Miss Girl, what would you do with a boy doll?"

Miss Girl: "I would dress him in boy doll clothes and feed him."

You see the discrepancy. I wondered if other families encountered the same differences. We checked with Uncle B, Miss Girl's daddy. He has a sister. Here's a pic from just a few years ago:

Uncle B gave this description of his boyhood with an army of GI Joes:

"My GI Joes beat up my sister’s Ken doll, stole her Barbie car and went on many aqua missions in the pool. Once, I took my sister’s Barbie, bound and gagged her, then tied her to a tower. I DID bring in the patrols to rescue her."

We called Uncle B’s sister to get her side of the story:

"I didn’t want to play with the GI Joes. They were ‘nasty boy toys.’ One had a beard that was especially disturbing. I had texture issues. I remember the troops invading my Barbie Dream House. Did they ever take the elevator? No. They always rappelled down the side. Sometimes I would find booby traps. I did get even once by putting makeup on one of them…"

So there you have it. Boys and Girls just do not play with the same toy the same way.

Are you surprised?