To counteract that, many children are given an almost ridiculously "gender-role enhancing" upbringing.
I haven't heard of that being a trend in my area at least. I know with my kids, I'm doing the same thing with my daughter as I did with my son. I let their preferences guide what I buy for them. My daughter, for instance, has been obsessed with the color pink, lately. <sigh> Personally, I can't stand the color, but when I buy clothes for her, I do buy some clothes that are pink. She likes dolls and stuffed animals. She likes to color and paint. On the other hand, she also likes legos and building blocks, so we get those for her as well. For the most part, the toys she plays with are the same ones that our son played with when he was 2.
As for those insane shoes, I'd never have considered getting things like those for her when she was little. Right now, both of our kids wear comfortable sandles (flats!!!) and tennis shoes. When they were learning to walk, they went barefoot most of the time. Our son was walking at 9 months and our daughter at 10 months, btw. I've always thought those cutesy shoes people like to put their kids are insane and bad for their feet.
Tara
