Boys playing guns

[MrsK]

Are you kidding? It's in their DNA. Boys that have never seen a gun will turn anything , sticks, toys, whatever into a gun.

Re: Boys playing guns

it's normal, and in fact, the more you do to stop it, the more they'll do it. I hate it, and I do have some very basic rules I won't bend on.

*No toy guns that look like REAL guns. I allow Star Wars weapons, Nerf guns & the like b/c it's not likely that they'll run into one of those at a friends house and accidentally kill someone.

*No pointing any guns at a person. I will allow them to shoot at pretend targets, and they can play war where they're chasing and shooting each other but no "assassination style" shooting up close and personal with a more violent bent to it.

You're right Chirsada. They will turn anything into a gun. I tried to fight it for the longest time, but they kept it up and started to become more interested. Once I gave in (while still holding my ground on the original idea), it's become less of a focus.

Re: Boys playing guns

Yeah. The first time I was at the business end of a Nerf gun, I realized I had to set some boundaries. It's fun just to run around and shoot chase-style, but the whole gang-banger assassination / up close thing is a no-go.

Re: Boys playing guns

I really thought when Pete and mark were born that it was all society dictated...I bought them dollies instead...which they then turned into guns! We have the exact same rules and don't bend them,,,even now that they are almost teenagers. We also allow no violent or shooting games for the Wii or XBox 360....

[Michele]

Re: Boys playing guns

Daegan has started this too. I am doing the same things Jenn says....but at our house I redirect to another toy or game....but when he is at others houses I try to keep it non-confrontational. It's really hard to limit gun play in an area where I'm considered weird because my son doesn't have a hunting-and-fishing license already...ummm...hello? he is 2.5yo! Apparently if I got him one before 2yo I could've gotten a lifetime license really cheap. :huh:

[Tenacious_D]

Re: Boys playing guns

I'll have to see if Eli likes guns in the future...right now he loves watching me curl my hair with the curling iron...perhaps he'll "play" hairstylist instead cops and robbers when he is older

[houseelf]

Re: Boys playing guns

How normal is it for boys to play guns?

About as normal as it is for them to play with their anatomy? (Sorry for the crude joke).

I used to be in the "no guns" camp. He would draw guns at school, take sticks and make one, improvise a gun with Thomas toy train, etcetera. We do monitor media influence FWIW.

Notably, my friends won't let me forget my former stance and laugh at me. Now my friends secretly refer to my son as "Charleton" for his huge Nerf gun and LightSaber armory in our garage. We can outfit the entire neighborhood with a plastic weapon of their choice.

Kelly

[Sheherezade]

Re: Boys playing guns

My Quaker friends used to comfort me by telling me that all the little Quaker boys at the Quaker picnics would make fake guns out of sticks and the woods and run around killing each other. So much for dedicating yourself to non-violence, huh? Let's hope the teachings take.

We avoided all guns for a long time, but gave in to Nerf. Now my son plays Halo with pack of neighborhood kids on the XBox, but from what I've seen, it's really hide and seek with "killing" instead of tagging. (No blood - you're out - find the next guy)

Normal.

I wonder why our culture has to feed it though? I'd give anything to have the violence levels go down for awhile in pop culture. It seems we always have to "up the ante".

[MrsK]

Re: Boys playing guns

How normal is it for boys to play guns?

About as normal as it is for them to play with their anatomy? (Sorry for the crude joke).

FWIW, I asked DrK about boys playing guns and got the exact same response.

[McPants]

Re: Boys playing guns

As everyone else has said - completely normal and very hard to stop. Heck, even I used to play lots of different gun-related games and still grew up to be a completely wussified bleedin'-heart pacifist in favor of banning all guns etc, etc.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Boys playing guns

it's normal, and in fact, the more you do to stop it, the more they'll do it. I hate it, and I do have some very basic rules I won't bend on.

*No toy guns that look like REAL guns. I allow Star Wars weapons, Nerf guns & the like b/c it's not likely that they'll run into one of those at a friends house and accidentally kill someone.

*No pointing any guns at a person. I will allow them to shoot at pretend targets, and they can play war where they're chasing and shooting each other but no "assassination style" shooting up close and personal with a more violent bent to it.

ITA on all accounts and rules.

We explained it to DS this way: "Sam, Dad often has to do surgery to take bullets out of people. When someone is shot, it makes a hole and hurts the body. Dad works hard to help his patients feel better after someone makes a bad choice with a gun. Let's be respectful of what Dad does at work and not pretend to shoot people. It is not a fun 'pretend' because it is pretending to do something that in real life causes pain and makes people sad."

DS seems to understand this. Although I think he really made an impact on him. Sometimes when DH comes home, DS asks: "Daddy, did anyone make bad choices with guns today?" I guess a lot of parents might be upset with this--kind of a "loss of innocence" thing. But, you know, this is a reality of DH's life and maybe it's a good thing for DS to realize, in a tangible way (Dad isn't here because he is at the hospital, helping someone who was shot), that guns can cause pain if used irresponsibly.

Tiny bit of

What I get pissed off about, though, is how gunplay is handled at DS's private school. I fully understand and support that pretend gunplay at school is wholly unacceptable. But I don't like the way that the teachers often make guns a moral issue. That is, "Don't play guns because guns are bad. Bad people use guns and we aren't bad." That is, without a doubt, the message. Taking this unintellectual argument to its logical conclusion, DS said to me one day, "Soldiers and police are bad people, Mom. They carry guns." I had to explain that it is the irresponsible use of guns that is bad, but that not all gun use is irresponsible. That sometimes guns are necessary for our protection and safety. I also do not particularly appreciate the school's "take" on guns, since my husband owns a gun, as does my father. And since I have many members of the family in the military. But DS goes to a pretty cosmopolitan, post-yuppyish, "we are too smart to carry guns and Bibles" kind of school. You know, all the parents consider themselves educated above for that "sort" of stuff (I guess gunracks would look weird on the back of their Range Rovers). So I am pretty sure that I am the only person who doesn't appreciate the "bad people use guns" crap.

The other parents are appalled that I drive a pickup.

[Meenah]

Re: Boys playing guns

My girls went to a Friends school, and when Caroline was 4 she and her best buddy Jake were in the play area with their My Little Pony toys and they were pretend shooting them and blowing them up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't remember what they were using for pretend weapons. I'm like McPants ,

bleedin'-heart pacifist in favor of banning all guns etc, etc.

, but I have never laughed so hard. I think the kids will turn anything into gun-type toys.

[alison]

Re: Boys playing guns

As everyone else has said - completely normal and very hard to stop. Heck, even I used to play lots of different gun-related games and still grew up to be a completely wussified bleedin'-heart pacifist in favor of banning all guns etc, etc.

I love this post!

[PrincessFiona]

Re: Boys playing guns

I used to be anti-gun but my boys even would bite their sandwiches into the shapes of guns. We can't really escape the reality of guns in our culture, so I try and focus on the fact that soldiers who protect our country have guns...police officers...star wars troopers defending the galaxy...you know...that kind of stuff.

Oh...and Zoe is all girl...as in...she carries some version of a baby bunny, baby pink, baby caroline, baby wall-e, baby eva with her at all times...and has been known to turn said babies into guns to fight with brothers...and...she's only 2

Kris

[Meenah]

Re: Boys playing guns

Kris wrote:

Oh...and Zoe is all girl...as in...she carries some version of a baby bunny, baby pink, baby caroline, baby wall-e, baby eva with her at all times...and has been known to turn said babies into guns to fight with brothers...and...she's only 2

That is soooo funny.