In 1974, Lego Wrote a Powerful Letter to Parents About How Gender Works

A Lego letter from 1974, unearthed and posted on Reddit in 2014, has some advice for parents that rings true more than 40 years later. The letter reminds parents that “the urge to create is equally strong in all children... boys and girls.”

Reddit user fryd_, who first shared the letter, said he unearthed the letter “with his niece and nephew at their Grandma’s house” in a box with a “blonde girl on the front with a white Lego house.”

Emma Owen, part of Lego’s public relations team in the UK and Ireland, confirmed the Redditor’s story on November 24, 2014 in a statement to the Telegraph:

“The text is from 1974 and was a part of a pamphlet showing a variety of Lego doll house products targeted girls aged 4 and up. The text remains relevant to this day. Our focus has always been, and remains to bring creative play experiences to all children in the world, based on the Lego brick and the Lego system, ultimately enabling children to build and create whatever they can imagine.”

Owen said that Lego letter was attached to a pamphlet included with a variety of doll house products in the 1970s. The Lego sets were aimed at girls, but the company wanted to ensure parents knew the toys were also suitable for boys.

Here is the letter in full:

“To Parents

The urge to create is equally strong in all children. Boys and girls.

It’s the imagination that counts. Not skill. You build whatever comes into your head, the way you want it. A bed or a truck. A dolls house or a spaceship.

A lot of boys like dolls houses. They’re more human than spaceships. A lot of girls prefer spaceships. They’re more exciting than dolls houses.

The most important thing is to put the right material in their hands and let them create whatever appeals to them.”

The image appears to include a copyright from 1974 and the name of a printer in Hamburg used by Lego at the time.