Do you play cops and robbers. Indians and cowboys. Do you play with guns?
I am not into violence and I knew that having a little boy, I would eventually have the natural pow pow of the gun noise echoing through the house.
There are no guns here. I have not bought one. However, Keely made two guns this morning, one each.
POW POW!
I have no plans to buy Taj a toy gun to play with, but I do personally believe it is something very natural for boys to play KA-POW, if it be with a stick in the shape of a gun, a piece of paper, or their own fingers shaped into a gun.
What are your thoughts on toy guns?
Nice work, I am really glad to be 1 of several visitants on this awful site : D
ReplyDeleteahhh Keira - really? Thing is - this is a blog and really, you don't have to read it if you don't like it. Nobody is making you sweets. Also writing a blog is hard work - do you have one?
DeleteAnyway - Hayley, I'm with you. I won't be buying my son a gun but I think it's perfectly natural for little boys to play ka-POW. Hopefully everybody can have a little fun playing along...
I agree with the no guns thing, Sylas knows nothing about guns and I will not buy anything that shoots. He pretends everything is a hose instead, crazy fireman obsession stage, so he hoses everything, including the cat who always seems to be on fire, and people at the supermarket!
ReplyDeleteKeira's comment is spam if you click on her name it takes you to a you tube clip. Children don't need guns to help them grow & develop. Ka pow is a game where they are using their imaginations. Toy guns scare me with their likeness to the real thing. xx
ReplyDeleterock on! I don't really click on people's names, and never realised that would have been spam! x
DeleteMy boy has had to make up his own guns his whole eight (almost) years of life. There is no way I'm buying him one. x
ReplyDeleteHang on, your daughter made guns and yet you say that it's natural for boys to play with guns, rather than girls? That doesn't make sense to me. I think our society encourages boys to play with guns but that doesn't make it 'natural'.
ReplyDeleteKeely cut out some shapes on paper, and then folded it up. Taj made them into guns.... sorry I didn't write the full story. If I was to write the full story, it all equated from the fact my friend has 3 boys, and a conversation we had months ago about the gun playing.... Now to only discover my own son has started with full, I am going to kill you talk.... which clearly we do not talk about here, and would never watch any television shows that would end in killing, or guns of any kind. I am just interested in what others believe in, as toy guns are everywhere in toy stores, especially those nerf guns. I know we played with water pistols as little people, but I do know personally I would not buy any gun for my son. The thing is it isn't natural in the sense it should happen. I mean it in the sense that it is one of the boy inbuilt things... because I know personally I never showed him about guns.... or maybe some other child showed him at kindy.... how do they learn these things if you don't show them, or share them with them? Are there other parents doing it with their children.... the whole blog post is my interest in knowing how others feel, as how does a 3 year old find out about guns, and killing, if it is not taught at home? Is it the "kindy society?" I don't know... that is why I have put it out there in what other parents believe or think of the whole toy gun thing.
DeleteSorry for the confusion, and thank you for your comment, as I would love to know how far that society goes when it comes to a 3 year old who has never owned a gun, nor been shown any television that has guns in it. x
I am a mum of 3 boys. There was no gun talk until No.1 went off to kindy and came home making guns with his fingers. No2 & 3 have followed suit (with the whole kindy thing about guns. This was also where they discovered Superman, Spiderman & the like which we don't have at home). I am incredibly torn between the feeling that 'boys just like this sort of thing' and my own personal dislike for guns. I have not taught them anything about guns, but they know a whole lot about them!! They know I don't like the whole killing talk and will always say "Mum it's just pretend".
ReplyDeleteMy boys are now 11, 7 & 3. They play with Nerf guns, but if you were to meet them, you wouldn't see violent kids. My father was also one of 3 boys who grew up during the war, and they certainly played with guns, but he hasn't turned into some violent, gun toting person.
As a mum I just really try to balance this kind of behaviour with more 'positive' things. My middle son has developed a passion for historical war facts (go figure!!) which I can't stand. But there is a great book I read with him called The Enemy. As they get older, the killing talk has definitely subsided as has the Nerf gun wars - thank goodness.
The whole gun thing makes for some very divisive chats at the school gate! But pre-school does seem to be where my kids picked it up that's for sure.