Little Boys and Purses

Today at work a mother came in with her son. Nothing out of the ordinary. That is until he asks to hold her purse while she tried on a pair of shoes. My first thoughts were, aww how sweet what a little gentleman he is at such a young age. When she handed him the purse he went and sat on the sofa as she stood in front of the mirror admiring her selection. Then he proceeded to dig through the purse-typical naughty little boy behavior right. He digs and digs until aha-her cell phone. Ok-we're still in normal behavior mode. His next actions were a bit off to me. He picked up the purse and put it on his shoulder and walked towards his mother. She didn't say anything about him carrying her purse.

Now what puzzles me about this was his age. I place my guessemation around 8 years old. He was obviously old enough to understand that purses are for ladies. If he were around 3 or 4 then it would be a little more understandable-but 8?? Now maybe its because I grew up with the old saying drilled in my head "dolls are for girls, trucks are for boys" that made me find this behavior odd. A few questions ran through my mind as I watched this little boy. Is this the Should children be steered in direction to only engage in activities specifically related towards their gender?

I put so much thought into thinking back to stories of how many adult gay men stated that they played with their mothers/sisters makeup, hair, clothes, jewelry. I'm not saying in any way that the little boy was gay-he could have just been having fun with a bag and a phone in his eyes. Yet there is the question of if parents steer the behavior based on gender at a young age-will it determine the child's sexuality? Or are people just born with natural ways of their opposite sex?

I'm no expert but I would think that by not addressing such issues at a young age will cause a bit of confusion as they grow into adolescents. Then there's always the case of if you pressure a child too much they will be more reluctant to tell you their true feelings (ie, a father pushes sports on his son when he takes an interest in dance or cheer leading). This may cause intimidation or fear in a child,

There are so many different angles to look at something like this. There will never truly be a right or wrong answer just insight and opinions.