Lego’s have been in the news and public consciousness a lot lately, with the Lego movie sweeping the box office last weekend.  But not everything has been positive feedback. And I don’t just mean the collective scream of parents having to listen to “Everything is Awesome” being sung again for the 473rd time! There’s been a small uproar recently about the newest Lego offerings, the Lego Friends sets, which are marketed toward girls. Critics claim that the sets are gender stereotyping with their pastel colors and building things like cafes and yachts, as opposed to fortresses and pirate ships. Having two Lego obsessed children, I get to see both sides of this played out daily in my house. They both love their Lego’s equally and it’s usually the first toy both of them run for when they have free time.  I love Lego’s for the imagination and creativity they foster, as well as being a quietly engaging toy in a era of electronic toys and phones and instant gratification.

When she was small, we bought our daughter primary colored mega blocks and Duplos, refusing to set her into any preconceived gender roles. Now she likes the Friends sets, and I think they’re great! There’s been some criticism of the sets not being “active” enough or only doing “girl things.” I can understand having a problem with stereotyping, but look closer and that’s not what they’re doing. The Lego Friends are business owners, veterinarians, rock stars, scientists,  and soccer players. Aren’t those some of the things we’d like to encourage our little girls to be?

Yes, the sets come designed for building bakeries and high schools and stables instead of intergalactic star bases and construction trucks. But just like the girls who play with them, that’s not all they can become. The first time out of the box, both my kids follow the instructions and build the newly acquired set just as shown.

President/Lord Business would be proud.

But after that’s done and Mommy has snapped a picture of their proud creation, they take it all apart and start creating on their own. Usually making something even more impressive than before. Which seems to me to be one of the main functions of the toy; create and build yourself, regardless of gender.

There’s a new article  circulating the web right now with a side-by-side picture featuring the same girl holding Lego creations from a 1980’s ad and now. The problem with this ad is that it’s not an even comparison. In the first picture, she’s holding an original creation. In the second, she’s followed the instructions and built it into a news van. “What it is is different,” the tag line reads. Yeah, different… she followed the instructions. I’ll bet that if you gave her a pile of Lego Friends blocks and no instructions, it wouldn’t look like that. She, or any little girl with a hint of imagination, would build something awesome. Should it matter that it’s pastel?! I’ve seen another new Lego ad recently of a little girl holding an original (and impressive-looking) creation with both pastel and primary colored pieces. The tag line says something about “She’s not just showing you what she’s made, she’s showing you what she’s made of.”

Lego is trying to reach out to girls and encourage them to play with a toy that in the past has been overwhelmingly purchased by boys. The primary colored sets haven’t been off-limits to girls all these years. But they simply weren’t buying them in the same numbers. And that’s not up to Lego, it’s up to the parents! So why get upset now? Don’t want your daughter playing with pink and purple colored toys? Buy her the primary colored ones! We shouldn’t vilify Lego for trying to raise interest and encourage our daughters to build and think. The new GoldieBlox toys, aimed also at girls and encouraging engineering and innovation, are pastel colored. With cute little animals. Why? Because that’s what often draws their attention. If that’s what it takes to get a girl to put down a barbie and start building, should it matter what color it is?

I don’t believe that my daughter is going to grow up to be a mindless, smoothie-swilling shopaholic devoid of all ambition from playing with Lego Friends, any more than I believe that my son will grow up to be a bulldozer-driving space policeman from playing with Lego Creators. It’s just a …hmmm….building block for their future.

Our daughter informed us the other day, after a marathon Lego Friends building session, that when she grows up, she wants to be an architect. “I’m really good at math, and I like building and designing things like this,” she told us.

Thanks, Lego!