(CNN) -- I am staring down a $71.97 box of Lego Friends at my local Walmart. My daughter wants Santa to bring her one of these pretty pink and purple kits for Christmas. These are the toys that Lego made to appeal to girls after decades of making toys they once marketed as being gender neutral. See the evidence in a 1974 Lego's note to parents who bought its toys, noting that parents should let their children create whatever they want without regard to gender or skill. "The most important thing is to put the right material in their hands and let them create whatever appeals to them," the note says.
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Legos used to be known for gender-neutral toys that inspired children to create
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Now the toys tell children in advance what's good for boys or girls
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Even toys not targeting one gender still don't inspire children to imagine
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Surround children with open-ended toys that will help them make whatever they want
And so far, my daughter -- who loves all the colors of the rainbow but isn't a big fan of the color gray -- loves her @placeholder.
Most of the toys in our house are raw material for her imaginative play: paint, clay, beeswax, yarn, felt, bits, crayons, bits of nature, lots of costumes that turn her into anyone she wants to be -- and @placeholder.