my daughter told me that minecraft is boy's game

[juryduty000]

that is what i she told me 8 years old when i suggested minecraft to her hoping she will elevate to programming aspect of it later. But she said she hates it and said it is boy's game. I dont recall exactly but i dont think she said she hates it BECAUSE it is boy's game (and supposedly she got impression or someone told her) but she definitely said two sentences in sequence so there is a possibility "because" is implied. My younger niece runs  a training small class for minecraft programming for the heck! 

I was thinking to reapproach her about this and telling her this:

- well minecraft has nothing to do with boy or girl everyone can play, do yousee anywhere in the game title it is for boys? no! 

- is someone telling you that? That person is definitely telling you the wrong answer!

- if you dislike it, it is ok but if you just dislike it because it is boy's game, whoever told you is wrong! 

As an avid gamer and a male, I am aware of subculture marginalizing the girls but i am worried whether my daughter is being exposed to that. And wondering that subculture has spread to minercraft community? 

[Birdwings]

Hi Jury Duty 000,

You might be referring to Minecraft, but you've raised a minefield and it would be interesting to get a few people responding to your message. I am Mum to a 17 year old young man and a 15 year old daughter. When my daughter was young, she was quite particular about whether toys were for boys or girls and would look at the box. If there weren't girls shown on the packaging, she'd be inclined to say it was for boys. As a toddler she was an daycare and asked for a pink bowl and refused to eat if she didn't get it. She was told that you get what you get and you don't get upset, but I imagine she went without knowing her. 

My husband works in IT and both he and our son and in my opinion overly into gaming and our son really has times where he's been addicted to Minecraft and he is not alone. We tried playing Minecraft as a family when the kids were about 8 and six and I just wasn't interested, and our daughter was to some extend but she much preferred a different game called The Sims. 

Maybe, your daughter has different interests. We tried to expose our kids to a range of activities, an instrument, sport, scouts when they were young so they could experience a range of things to find their thing because if something is their thing, the hours really accelerate and as they approach high school, the other things tend to drop off. Our daughter is wanting to be a professional ballerina and I'm an uncoordinated heffalump but she's broadened my horizons and I've even taken some adult classes. 

There's so much more which could be raised on this topic, but I hope that helps.

Best wishes,

Birdwings

[Kathleen_RO]

Hi @juryduty000 

We're so glad you reached out for support on the forums - we're here for you. 

It sounds like Minecraft is a game that you really enjoy and you most likely want to be able to share that with your daughter. 

Maybe there could be more to this. Maybe your daughter could like Minecraft but she doesn't know how to play. Maybe you could suggest that the two of you could learn together and it could be a bonding father-daughter day. Then as a compromise, you could do something your daughter likes to do. 

Do you think you could discuss this with her?

Please keep us updated.