Boys- what's the attraction to trains and cars?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boys (and girls) like toys that move. Trains and cars are on wheels and they move much easier than pushing blocks or dolls around. You can push them by holding on and rolling or you can push and it will keep going. Add in the fact that many adults teach them to make noises (choo choo! or vroom vroom! or beep beep!, etc) and you get a lot of sensory input and learn gross and fine motor skills. For my boys, they also love shopping carts to push around and will push cardboard boxes around on slick floor surfaces for the same reasons.

Yes, my 20mo will push anything around. If I leave a cardboard box, he pushes it. Currently, it's a plastic bin that I haven't yet put to use; He has some big trucks that he bends over and pushes through the house too.

Just today my husband said "it's uncanny. I was really interested in cars and truck when I was a kid too." And I said "aren't all boys?" I don't know. All I know is, once ds discovered he liked toy cars, things became much easier for me because it occupies big chunks of his time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not just toddlers. We went to national train day. It was my father, husband, brother in law, and two nephews. I was the only female. All of them - ages 2 thru 64 - thought it was the greatest thing ever and can't wait until next year. I was bored out of my skull. It was terrible. All you do is walk through the trains and then look at the engines. I was done after 5 minutes. The two, six and 64 year olds had to be dragged out.

national train day?

[Anonymous]

I think cars/trucks/trains are interesting to both boys and girls, and that dolls/playacting are interesting to both also. However, I agree with the PPs who noted that their sons suddenly, with no encouragement, developed an obsession with moving vehicles in a way that their daughters did not.

I think some is probably unconscious gender biases in our society -- we probably push boys a little more into cars and girls a little more into dolls, even when we don't mean to

I also think it may have to do with a tendency toward movement that's stronger in boys. Obviously, everyone has this, but the research I've read suggests that girls often do better in school because they are more comfortable sitting for longer periods. Boys tend to want to run around and move a little more. Major generalizations, but there seems to be some tendencies on a large scale. My guess is that boys perhaps find moving vehicles more engaging than dolls because they can move them around more and be physical with them. My DS is a toddler and loves his doll, but he will play for much longer with anything he can throw or push or ride on!

[Anonymous]

My first child is a girl. Feeling all feminist, I bought her cars and trucks and no dolls. She never touched the cars and trucks and begged me for dolls as soon as she was able to talk.

My second child is a boy. Before I had bought any toys specifically for him, he ignored all his sister's dolls and went straight for the cars and trucks that had been sitting unused for the last however years.

There's something going on more than pushing cultural preferences onto kids, but I don't know what it is.

[Anonymous]

Children can see movement better than detail, so moving objects such as cars and trains catch their attention. Also, since their vision doesn't fully develop until they are a few years old, in the first couple years, they depend on hearing and smell. "Car" was one of the first words my child said because he could see cars out the window and loved watching them drive by. The noise the cars make also fascinates him. He hears the trains and the airplanes that pass by our house and learned the words for those early on, too. It's a matter of exposure. If we lived somewhere with horses trotting by all the time, he'd probably love horses.

The other thing to remember is that kids start modeling the adults in their lives very early. If they are cared for by women who take care of kids and men who drive cars, mow lawns and use other machinery, then that's what becomes the model in their brain. Not to say that it can't be changed - kids are flexible for the first several years. But to be gender neutral, you really have to work hard at having all the adults In their lives share all the different kinds of tasks. One or two important individual(s) in their lives can probably have a big influence at moderating or overcoming the effects of general society defaults.

Exposure plays a big role, one way or another. Even if we don't realize what is happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boys (and girls) like toys that move. Trains and cars are on wheels and they move much easier than pushing blocks or dolls around. You can push them by holding on and rolling or you can push and it will keep going. Add in the fact that many adults teach them to make noises (choo choo! or vroom vroom! or beep beep!, etc) and you get a lot of sensory input and learn gross and fine motor skills. For my boys, they also love shopping carts to push around and will push cardboard boxes around on slick floor surfaces for the same reasons.

Yes, my 20mo will push anything around. If I leave a cardboard box, he pushes it. Currently, it's a plastic bin that I haven't yet put to use; He has some big trucks that he bends over and pushes through the house too.

Just today my husband said "it's uncanny. I was really interested in cars and truck when I was a kid too." And I said "aren't all boys?" I don't know. All I know is, once ds discovered he liked toy cars, things became much easier for me because it occupies big chunks of his time

All 3 kids, including DD, pushed things around. DD is 2.5 and still does. We have a shopping cart and a toy doll stroller and if those aren't available she'll use a child sized chair to cart things around.

DD plays fairly equally with the "boy" toys and the "girl" toys. Our boys did too. Differences were more personal preferences and interests then gender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious- but why do boys almost universally like trains/cars/trucks so much? Girls like dolls and playacting - which I get. They are practicing what they see around them. But what's the innate interest in vehicles? Anyone know?

Because they're cool! You push them and they go! Trains can connect together and go around tracks! Trucks can hold lots of stuff in them and some of them can dump them out! Cars can race each other! Plus they have movable parts.

What's not to love?

Signed,

A mom who likes cars and trucks and things that go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my 2 yo son is obsessed with vehicles in general - trains, planes, helicopters, backhoes, steamrollers, cars....all of it.

I'm female, and growing up, I refused to play with dolls. I was into Star Wars, GI Joe and army men, transformers, cars and trains.

My mom's attic is full of never opened dolls that I was given by people over the years.

Sell them on ebay and make some money

[Anonymous]

Mine is into motorcycles, trains, planes and 18 wheelers. LOL my brother in law drives an 18 wheeler. My DH rides a motorcycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love playing with cats and trains! My husband jokes that I buy the toys for me. My boys love playing with cars and trains, but I could honestly play with them all day. Probably because I wasn't allowed to play with boy toys as a child.

I love playing with cats and trains too.

[Anonymous]

Boys like making/imitating the train and truck sounds/noises.

[Anonymous]

Things that go.

Daughter played with trucks: Mommy truck, Daddy truck and baby trucks.

[Anonymous]

And my boy played with dolls. Strange how they were always getting run over by cars, though...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first child is a girl. Feeling all feminist, I bought her cars and trucks and no dolls. She never touched the cars and trucks and begged me for dolls as soon as she was able to talk.

My second child is a boy. Before I had bought any toys specifically for him, he ignored all his sister's dolls and went straight for the cars and trucks that had been sitting unused for the last however years.

There's something going on more than pushing cultural preferences onto kids, but I don't know what it is.

Mom of a 2 year old girl here - we've had a similar experience. I have bought some cars for my daughter. She's just not that into them. She loves crayons, markers, play doh, and seems to like toys an activities that involve detail/fine motor skills. She has shown pretty minimal interest in trucks, trains and cars.I was the same as a kid so it isn't that surprising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious- but why do boys almost universally like trains/cars/trucks so much? Girls like dolls and playacting - which I get. They are practicing what they see around them. But what's the innate interest in vehicles? Anyone know?

Are you asking why children like trains/cars/trucks? Or are you asking why girls don't like trains/cars/trucks? (Which would come as news to my daughters, by the way.)

Grown up woman here who loved cars and trucks, but come on. It can't have escaped your attention that little boys nearly universally go gaga over vehicles, among little girls this seems less common.
- shocked when my little boy loved cars and trucks and planes without our pointing them out or emphasizing them

Exactly. My son is 2.5 and OBSESSED with cars/trucks/planes - much more so than his female buddies. We've never encouraged or emphasized it. It's like it's innate - bizarro.

Same here for our 14 month old. Color me surprised. Buying him a doll this weekend for a little impromptu experiment. Any suggestions?