Do you think people choose their interests and careers based on the toys they played with as a child?

Question

Do you think maybe girls are so interested in their looks because they grew up playing with barbies?

Do you think boys are interested in cars because they grew up playing with hotwheels?

I know I have an interest in architecture, and i grew up playing with Legos.

Do you think it's coincidence, or are they related? What toys did you play with as a child, and what are your interests now?

Answer 1

Hi, this is my wife’s screen name, but I want to answer this question. I'm a psych major and I'm about to graduate May 08. I understand the question very well, but let me see if I can answer it in a concise way. As child psych research will show, children come into this world with a particular temperament and also come into this world with a particular capacity for intelligence. This can be seen in twin studies and a lot of it is genetic. But, now on the flip side. Just because we come into this world in a particular way, it can be altered for better or for worse. I don't want to cite all the research that supports this, but know that how we are nurtured as children has a very significant affect on us. Having said all this let me answer the question. The toys you played with are used in many ways and have many effects upon a growing child. Socially we are affected and our intelligence is affected as well. If you stimulate a child in a particular way, that impression left on that child can have a lasting effect later in life. What toys children gravitate to will in a lot of ways act as a glimpse into a possible career. It is not the toy itself, but rather it is ourselves that is reflected in through the toy. Hence, if I have a mechanical aptitude I might find myself playing with certain toys over others, because it would be more pleasurable to do that, and also I would be reinforced by the success I have with that toy. So, as you might be able to see, toys can give one insight into what we are good at and what we are not so good at. This is why it is important to expose children as they grow to a variety of things so they can find their niche in interests, etc. Other than the above, there is no hard fast rule, but use common sense. So, you played with certain toys and enjoyed them in a particular way. Does that kind of play choice say something about you? Yes, in your case, I think it might. Only you’ll be able to answer that question though. I think you are beginning to see some patterns in your life and now what you do with that insight is up to you. Go and pursue this route in our life and see if you really have an aptitude for it. Take a class or to and see if it's a good fit. For example, when I started college, I took classes in law. It was an interest and something I thought I would like, but I found out that if was not a good fit at all. Then, shortly after, I found that psychology was a good fit for me. It satisfies the scientist in me. And my minor in philosophy satisfies my intellect. I hope this answers your question. Good luck.

Answer 2

Great question! Not sure how to answer it though. I grew up playing with Barbies, too, but I also spent just as much time outside climbing trees, catching frogs, and playing softball. I also played with Legos (and these are my kids' favorite toys, too!)- and I loved the Legos as much as or more than the Barbies. I also played with "tinkertoys" and "lincoln logs"- also preferred over other toys I had. I loved (and still do) reading- esp. fiction when I was younger, and non-fiction books now that I'm an adult. I've also had a passion for arts and crafts as far back as I can remember, and I still do. Same with music. I adore it. I learned to play the flute and taught myself how to play the piano, both when I was young. As far as my career goes, I'm working on a degree in psychology and a minor in addictions counseling (and absolutely no interest in architecture or building things)...so I'm not sure how my childhood toys or activities really relate to what I'm doing now. I'll have to think about that one and get back to you on that. Interesting question, though!

Answer 3

No i dont think so. Interests change over time. I grew up with stuffed animals, lego, a barbie or two, and i want to go into science. :l it might be related in some way though however.

Answer 4

I don't think so. I played with barbies and I'm comfortable in my own skin. My husband played with hotwheels and he just started changing his own oil at age 45. I played with tinkertoys, hotwheels, barbies, etc. and I feel I'm well rounded. I became a secretary and my husband is a phone man. Now I'm a part time pet sitter and I was alergic to pets as a child. Go figure.

Answer 5

I think it may be related. Although, children will be naturally drawn to whatever suits them. I always played with baby dolls, played "school", read books (especially historical fiction), and played with my chemistry set. So now I'm playing with real babies, teaching my son to read and write, reading constantly....and perhaps in 10 or 15 years or so, we'll see what to make of the chemistry set and history books.

That's so funny about the legos. My hubby loved them as a kid - we've got pictures of him proudly standing in front of some of his lego creations in the photo album. Sure enough - he's an architectural designer.

I never was allowed to play with barbies. Good decision, Mom - I'll do the same for my little girl.

Answer 6

As a boy, I grew up playing with guns, cars, airplanes, tinker toys and boy stuff. I like to hunt and fish and ride motorcycles and I re-enact the American Civil War as a living historian. But when it came to choosing a career, I joined the Army and became a nurse. I'm now a retired Registered Professional Nurse and a radiographic technician. Gots six kids and two grandkids. So no: what I did as a child had nothing to do with my career choices.

Answer 7

I think one of the reasons that children play with toys in that manner is because we teach them that certain are appropriate or not, based on gender, not only parents but the media and society in general contributes to shaping their perceptions.
As a little girl, most of my toys were not gender related, clay, building blocks, paints, toy sets that included boys and girls, like you - legos, I also had alot of toys related to learning, thanks to my mother.
My dad never gave me any sort of indication that dolls and kitchen sets were for girls and toy cars and action figures for boys, which is exactly what I do with my god-children, I buy their toys based on what they like.

My interests now are still artistic in nature - sewing/design, dancing, playing music... these were all activities I did with my grandmother or father as a child, and I've taken them into my adulthood, and added few of my own. :-)

Answer 8

In some cases, yes, depending on how involved the child is with the specific kind of toy. I drew a lot, and I still have an interest in design, but my intended career is advertising.

Answer 9

No, I do not think they choose their careers, or interests based on toys they are given and played with as a child.

Children already have their own interests and passions...that determines how they play with toys...the toys do not determine the interests.

I too had Legos, and Barbie, and Breyer horses, and Tonka Toys, Tinker toys, stuffed toys, and tons of craft items.

With the Legos I built things for the Breyer horses (feeders, stalls, ect). Tonka toys hauled rocks, and sticks, and made appropriate pastures/corrals for the Breyer horses. Barbie was forced to be servant to the Breyer horses.

When I grew up, I came to live/own/work on a permaculture farm....because I've know since I was a six year old girl that I wanted to "live on a farm, and do things the natural way."

Some play is simply play, for the sake of playing. Most children will happily spend hours in the bathtub playing with toys in the tub and suds. Very, very few of them grow up to be marine biologists, or trainers at SeaWorld.

I also do not believe toys are gender specific. I grew up with a boy who had a SERRIOUS interest in fabric/clothes, and makeup. So he grew up to be a gay decorator, or hair stylist, right? Not hardly. He has a very "hot" girlfriend, and makes his living doing makeup and creepy fashion design for horror movies.

My Mom's favorite toy as a child was a Tonka truck. She grew up with an interest in drafting....so strong in fact she opened her own private college and taught drafting to others. She now sells realestate, because that holds more interest for her....as a child she read everything on Alaska, and dreamed of homesteading there.

Children are very open and honest. They generally play in the dirrection their interest lay. No matter what the toy, they make the toy fit the interest.

Another female friend of mine would shove her dolls into any small space she could find. Stuffed toys as well. She shoved a teady bear into the disposal of the kitchen sink. Barbie dolls had to forever be fished out of pipes, and holes. Her mothers vacuum cleaner was eternally plugged with barbie heads from her trying to shove barbies in the tubes.

What happened to her? Grew up to be a grave digger...anti social? No, she grew up to have a serrious passion for spelunking (exploring caves). Her parents really worried about her behavior as a child, with all the weird things she did with her toys. Now that she's an adult, it makes sence.

HOW children play with toys probably show what their interest in later life. Most of the time however it can be a pretty wild guess. Just because a little boy insists on lugging about a baby doll does not mean he'll grow up gay. Perhaps he's just going to grow up to be the most carring, engaging dad a child could ever want. Just because your little girl likes playing with cars in the dirt does not mean she's going to grow up butch. Maybe she will live in a big city, and invent her self a niche market private taxi service only for Muslim women (who cannot be alone with strange men).

You never know what children are going to do. Yet once they are adults, you can look back on their play, and often see their interest were expresed very early with how they played with thier toys.

~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 10

Lego's! I love Lego's for kids; there's nothing better.
I don't agree that the process to which you allude occurs during childhood, though. More like adolescence. It's down to societal pressures/expectations and modelling/mentoring.

I'll bet playing with Lego's as a child helped to make you smarter, though!