Girls' and Boys' Toys

A girl (in her blue jeans, blue shirt, and blue shoes) and her Lego.

Last Sunday I had the displeasure of going into Toys 'R' Us to buy a birthday present for my son’s friend. Usually I avoid this store at all costs. As a dear friend described, the store makes one itchy, with its sky-high piles of televisions and pop star branded toys. Unfortunately, it was the only store in town to have this particular toy. After my experience though, I will never step foot into it again. Here is the conversation I had with a staff member: 
Me: "Do you have BeyBlades?"
Staff member: "Yes. Those are in the boys’ toy section."
Me (now looking aghast at said staff member): "Gasp. Boys’ toy section? You have a ‘boys’ toy section’? Oh…never mind."
With that I marched off to find out which toys this massive retailer has deemed suitable only for the boys among us. It was filled with Transformers (which I loved as a child), Lego (ditto) and yes, BeyBlades (no comment, as I’d never heard of such a thing till this weekend). The girls’ toy section was so blindingly pink I had to shield my eyes as I walked by, but I caught glimpses of Barbies, dolls and Hannah Montana. 
Now, as the mother of a son I’m fully aware boys and girls are different, and not just physically. But do we need a major toy retailer deciding whether a toy is suitable for girls or boys? 
What’s next? A ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ section in the bookstores? 
Children and their parents are the ones to decide if a toy is suitable based on their family values, not on gender. 
If a girl fancies the newest action figure, or a boy wants to play with Barbie, then no one, especially not a massive corporation, should be sending any other message than “that’s okay.”