Even though Hot Guy grew up around guns and hunting, we've avoided the gun issue as parents of young children. Why teach them about guns before they were ready to learn gun safety? In fact, my kids didn't know what guns were until they went to preschool.
Then Lovebug came home shooting things.
He points his arm out and says, "Pishew! Pishew!" to indicate that he's gotten us. He doesn't call it shooting, he calls it , "Pishewing". He calls the things he makes out of Legos his "Pishewers". And we avoid the "g" word, because I don't think guns should be thought of as toys. But I also don't want to stop what appears to be some sort of instinctive male tendency.
Then we met the boys with guns.
Not much older than Lovebug's 3, the boys carried water guns as tall as they were. They carried them into my parents' town pool after the following directions from their mothers, "Shoot away from people, boys." One boy found that boring and put the gun by his mother's chair. The other also found that boring, but his solution was to shoot at people. People like my Lovebug.
Lovebug, being a lover and not a fighter - as well as no fan of the water, came running to me in tears. I said the boy was mean and to stay away from him. Lovebug, Ironflower and my mom built a sandcastle. The boy came over to shoot it with his water gun. Why? I don't know. I loudly told him to stop and go away. I had to stand up and loom over him for it to work.
His mother did not notice. She did not notice a strange woman practically yelling at her son. She did not notice when he shot other kids in the face. She did not notice when he tripped over the large gun. She did not notice anything until he blasted her with water. Then she told him to stop. Twenty times.
And I stood there wondering, do toy guns make kids aggressive? Or do aggressive kids want toy guns? And what kind of IDIOT lets her son loose with a giant water gun at the crowded kiddie pool? And should I go say something to her?
What are your thoughts about toy guns?
5 comments:
My parents outlawed both guns and Barbies in my house when I was a kid. Honestly? Not sure how it helped. My brother joined the Army. He LOVES guns.
It's such a weird conundrum. I hate guns, but the boy child and guns seemed to gravitate to each other. We never encouraged guns per se, but water pistols were high fun time in our backyard, boys and girls alike. We didn't encourage, nor discourage, the toy guns and army games the boy engages in, but we reinforce that real guns are dangerous and not to be taken lightly.
I think pushing to hard either way creates an intoxicating curiosity for the objects in question.
The kid at the pool with the inattentive Mom? I'd have strolled myself on over and ever so sweetly told her that her kid was terrorizing others by shooting them in the face and perhaps she could encourage him to redirect his water works.
Nothing like kindly pointing out to someone their kid is being a shit. I hope others do the same if my kids are being obnoxious.
I honestly think it has to do with the kid. I too would put off the G word for as long as possible. As an adult I hate guns, I don't want a gun in my vicinity yet as a kid I played guns and watched GI-Joe and The A Team use guns to solve problems and it hasnt seemed to warp me. It's a tough call but I say let lovebug's maturity and actions dictate whether he is allowed to play guns or not.
As the mom of two boys, also not liking to use the 'g' word, water "shooters" have made it into our house. Although the oldest is only 4 and half, we do talk regularly that if he ever sees a real gun, he is to immediately leave the room, and then tell and adult. Having grown up out West when/where guns were common, the safety conversation needs to start early and be repeated often! Sorry, off my soap box now.
As the mom of two boys, also not liking to use the 'g' word, water "shooters" have made it into our house. Although the oldest is only 4 and half, we do talk regularly that if he ever sees a real gun, he is to immediately leave the room, and then tell and adult. Having grown up out West when/where guns were common, the safety conversation needs to start early and be repeated often! Sorry, off my soap box now.
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