My 9 year old son likes playing with girl toys. Is this normal?

My son is 9 years old. He has an older brother and two younger brothers. He likes to play with Bratz, My Little Pony toys, Care Bears, and The Littlest Pet Shop stuff and likes jewerly. He also likes boy toys, like Star Wars action figures, Power Rangers, Pokemon and loves to play video games. When he plays some video games, though, when there is a choice to be a male or female character, he will chose a female. He has boy friends at school but mostly girl friends, he has a crush on a girl in his grade and says he thinks she is pretty. Is there any reason for me to worry about him being gay when he grows up? He doesn’t play with girl toys as much as he used to and seems to be outgrowing it. I hope that he does, but he sometimes gets made fun of for the things that he likes. He is also small for his age and is smaller than all the boys in his grade.

The best thing to do for your son is to encourage him to be his own person and to do what he likes. Playing with “girl” toys is not a sign of sexual orientation. What you described is a senstive boy who likes ponies, bears, and pets – animals. Similarly, his interest in Bratz dolls is no different from power rangers or star wars action figures – they are moldable modles of humans in which he can develop and explore the world.

As for having more friends that are girls – perhaps he is uncomfortable with his size and so when all the boys in his class are playing tackel football or picking teams your son would rather save himself the embarassment and play with the girls instead. This might also account for his interest in “girl” toys.

If being gay is something that you are concerned about and don’t want your child to be ( everyone is entitled to their own principles) the worst thing you can do is scold him for playing with girl things or acting feminine. What will happen is that your son will repress his true self and end up hating the person he is and you for not accepting him.
Let him be. He will find his own way.

The only other thing I might suggest is encourage him to spend time with an adult male role model – father/stepfather/grandpa/uncle/teacher/cousin/big-brother program etc..

Funny Video , Star Wars Jar Binks Fail Toys Review by Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia on YouTube

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