“You need to do something about Brian,” Max told his wife.
“What are you talking about?” Tammy asked Max.
“Are you crackers?” Max said. “You seriously don’t know?”
“Max, I have no clue what it is that you want me do about Brian,” Tammy said.
“You don’t find his behavior at all questionable?” Max asked.
“Will you just spit it out, please?” Tammy said. “I honestly don’t know what your problem with Brian is.”
“Fine,” Max said. “Brian seems to like playing with his sister’s Barbie dolls.”
“So?”
“Are you kidding me? He’s a boy who likes playing with Barbie dolls,” Max said. “Boys don’t play with Barbies. If he wants to play with dolls, we should get him some action figures, like G.I. Joe or Captain America.”
“Why?” Asked Tammy. “Boys can play with Barbie dolls and not be called a sissy, gay, or worse.”
“Not Brian, not my boy,” Max protested.
“Brian is only seven years old. Playing with a Barbie doll doesn’t define his gender identity,” Tammy said. “Let me ask you a question. In ten years, would you prefer that he be more interested in playing with someone named Joe or someone named Barbie?”
“Okay, fine,” Max said. Then Tammy heard Max calling out to Brian, “Hey Brian, let’s go out back and toss a football.” Tammy just shook her head.
Written for Teresa’s Three Things Challenge prompt, where the three things are dolls, crackers, and questionable.
This, That, and the Other 
I don’t know but it seems for every generation, gender roles and ways seem to be different, each and every time.
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Evolution!
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This brought to mind my father yelling about my baby brother playing with some of my dolls. Mom yelled right back to go listen to what Charlie was saying as he played, so Dad went upstairs and listened in behind the door.
Charlie “take that you dork! That’ will teach you to say no to me” as he pounded my doll into the floor. Charlie picked up another doll, made an explosion sound and threw it into the air…….Dad never said another word about Charlie and dolls. LOL
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When G.I. Joes came out in the late 1960s, they were twelve inches tall and you could dress them up in all kinds of military costumes. I remember my Dad looking at me and a friend of mine in dismay, since they were pretty much like macho Barbies. Of course, they were all guys and carried guns.
Oh, my nine-year-old grandson still has his favorite stuffed animals he takes just about everywhere, and my three-year-old granddaughter loves the 1964 animated series “Jonny Quest,” in which two eleven year old boys pick up high powered rifles and defend the boat they’re on from gigantic crocodiles as they’re sailing down the Amazon. Great fun.
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I think I played with my matchbox car and Lego bricks as much, if not more, than my Barbies. And I tried to raise my daughter with a wide range of toys. Good write Fandango!
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I had my G.I. Joe dolls (aka, “action figures”), as well as my own set of matchbox cars, Lincoln logs, and an Erector set. Fun times.
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I forgot about Erector sets! Fun times indeed!
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For quite a while, the only kids in our neighborhood were girls. So, I actually bought my oldest son a Barbie once. He did want it. I think he played with it with the two girls right across the street a couple times then left it for them. He still went over there, though, a lot. One thing they did often was swim (in a pool in their back yard).
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