When you see enough YouTube videos of kids being disappointed with their gifts, it makes it feel that much better when a parent’s wishes to give their kid a nice Christmas actually aligns with what the kid wanted. Having all that stressful present hunting finally pay off must come as such a relief.
So why make it harder by worrying about whether the kid’s favorite toy is something they’re “supposed” to have?
That’s apparently the question that crossed one dad’s mind as he noticed a particular sign on his shopping trip.
Once he saw this sign, he decided to post it to Twitter with an exasperated caption.
He clearly felt that it was time that we stopped drawing a line between “girls’ toys” and “boys’ toys” and showed concern that his daughter would think she was playing “wrong.”
Although Tesco didn’t seem to respond, Rob did hear from one of the other accounts he tagged.
The account belongs to Let Toys Be Toys, an organization that seeks to change how toys are marketed with an emphasis on letting kids decide what’s fun all on their own.
After asking which store this sign was at, they said they’d follow up wth the company about it.
But while that was underway, Rob had apparently encouraged some healthy debate.
For some people, the sign didn’t seem like a big deal and was just a way to guide parents towards the kinds of toys their kids might like.
But to Rob, there was more going on underneath that whether Tesco intended it or not.
Funnily enough, the sign didn’t just catch flak for propping up gender roles.
People also took issue with the sign’s grammar. As you might have noticed, the “girls toys” sign doesn’t have an apostrophe. If it helps, it seems doubtful that the sign for the “boys toys” aisle does either.
In one amusing case, one person learned the hard way that there’s one important thing to remember when you correct somebody’s grammar.
Namely, if a post where you do it also has grammatical errors, somebody will notice and they’ll stop focusing on whether Rob’s outrage was “fained” or not.
But whether you agree or disagree with Rob, it should be easy to see when debaters cross the line.
It’s hard to tell how “what you’re worried about isn’t a big deal” somehow turned into “you’re a child abuser who isn’t fit to be a father,” but no good can come from assuming every negative thing possible about somebody just because they don’t like a sign.
Let’s keep things in perspective, folks.
