Today’s SocialMoms blogging prompt was submitted by member Shannon Flora, who likes blog giveaways and frugal living and blogs at Shannon’s Tales of Motherhood. You can connect with her on Twitter @shannon717717 .
How do you feel about your kids playing with toy guns or weapons? – Do you allow your kids to play with toy guns or weapons? If so, what is an appropriate age for them to start playing with toy weapons? If not, what is your reasoning?
I have a four year old son. He started getting interested in guns and weapons about a year ago. I tried over and over to get him to stop but it just got worse when he’d play with his older cousins. Star Wars games on the Wii, Transformers and more…Still, I try to keep it under control. He tells me his pretend guns are “water guns” so I won’t make him stop. It’s a big battle at our house. I don’t like it but at the same time, I feel like it’s sort of a boy thing that I probably just have to deal with at this point. I know I sound like a wimpy parent when I say I just don’t want to go through the struggle but sometimes you just have to pick your battles. He still receives time outs or other forms of discipline when things go too far but for the most part I just try to ignore it. We don’t have any gun toys (besides a couple of outdoor water guns) but that doesn’t deter Jackson. He just builds them out of legos or anything else he can get to resemble a gun.
How do you deal with toy guns with your kids? I’d love to hear other opinions on this topic.
As the mom of 2 (soon to be 3) boys and a husband who is into everything outdoors, I’ve learned to deal with guns. Personally, I don’t really care for guns. This mostly comes from not being around them until I got married and not knowing how to handle one. It’s definitly a boy thing. We have toys guns and things that our kids play with. Our rule is that you don’t point them at people. Period. If they do, the toy is taken away for a time. It is such a boy thing. Even if you don’t allow actual toys in your house, boys will come up with one. They can be very creative. I say teach them to be responsible about playing guns and let boys be boys.
Hi Bethany,
Thanks for your comment! Glad to know I’m not alone! I guess I’ll focus more on teaching them to be responsible rather than trying to eliminate them all together.
I was ADAMANTLY opposed to toy guns when my boys were smaller. I refused to let them have one at all. Then, I heard Dr. James Dobson say that guns are a boy thing. He said if you don’t let them have guns, they’ll eat their PB&J sandwich into the shape of a gun. So, I broke over.
Turns out, my middle son’s greatest passion is hunting and fishing. He loves guns and knows every model and everything about guns. And he’s only 10 years old! That love of hunting is just a natural bent that he has, because my husband has never hunted. He begged my husband to take him. If I had continued with my gun ban, he would be miserable. LOL
Isn’t it strange how even when children aren’t exposed to guys they still turn random objects into them? I think my son first learned what a gun was at preschool. We can’t keep our kids in a bubble. Funny how boys just have that in them….