You are using an older browser version. Please use a supported version for the best MSN experience.

Parents' Reaction After Uncle Gifts Nephew a Kitchen Set Sparks Outrage

Newsweek 4/22/2022 Maria Azzurra Volpe

A stock image shows a little boy playing with a toy kitchen set. The internet has sided with an uncle who was told off by a couple of parents for buying their son a "gender inappropriate" toy.

© Getty Images A stock image shows a little boy playing with a toy kitchen set. The internet has sided with an uncle who was told off by a couple of parents for buying their son a "gender inappropriate" toy.

If you're an aunt or an uncle you probably find yourself buying toys for your nieces and nephews quite often, and what a joy it is when you see their happy faces when they open their gift?

However, one uncle from the internet didn't get to experience that last time he bought a gift for his nephew—because the parents dismissed it as gender inappropriate.

In a post shared on Reddit on Wednesday, which has so far reached over 10k upvotes and almost 2000 comments, the uncle, who goes by the username u/Familiar_Mango_7509, shared the uncomfortable experience, and his fellow redditors quickly jumped to his defense.

"I gifted my 3 year old nephew a kitchen set and it didn't go well with the parents! Because apparently that was not an appropriate gift for a boy! I should have known better! Do we still live in a society where toys are gender appropriate? What's wrong with a kid playing with [a] kitchen set?" the post read.

According to the uncle, the parents didn't like the idea of their little boy playing with the present, a fancy kitchen set which featured lots of appliances, including a battery operated vacuum cleaner and fridge, as they believe kitchens are for girls only.

According to statistics from Zippia, professional male chefs actually dominate the restaurant sector. The numbers show that 74.8% of chefs in the country are men and only 25.2% of all chefs are women.

The research also shows that the top 10% of highest-paid chefs earn as much as $69,000 or more, and that in 2021, women earned 94% of what men earned. While the average salary for a male chef is $45,767, for women it's only $42,895.

Redditors were quick to jump on the uncle's side, pointing out that cooking is actually a mixed profession that men and women enjoy doing. One user, pyromnd, commented: "It's funny cuz more men seem to be chefs than women."

Another one, 31WadWings, added: "Yea I always thought that was weird. Everyone was like: boys can't learn to cook!! That's for girls. But then also women weren't supposed to be chefs... Bizarre how they justified that to themselves"

Other outraged users pointed out the alleged sexism that hides behind the belief that the kitchen is a place for a woman only. Sure-Morning-6904 wrote: "It's because the sexist thing here is that women are supposed to do a service (for the man). That's why there are more waitresses than chefs."

Hopeful-Area9015 answered: "Ya it's kind of a 1950's type of thing perpetuating throughout the ages." And Dakb1 added: "Funny thing is in the few centuries before the 50's a lot of the head servants would have been men (butlers, porters, footmen etc)."

Another user, LilyF***ingBart, commented: "The thing that always gets me about this particular brand of sexism is that kitchen sets are supposed to be for women (little girls). Women are "supposed" to be the ones who cook in the home. And yet... the majority of professional chefs and restaurateurs are men. It's hard to find a more perfect example of the patriarchy at work than this, in my opinion lol."