Did/does your kids play with toy guns?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

Someone who is drunk. Or high.

You seem to live in a very insular world. There are a lot of REALLY irresponsible adults who are fully capable of reproducing.

Nope--just making a comment.....like I said, if they are that stupid, they shouldn't have kids in the first place...not that it stops people.....but those are the same people that are not signing kids up for firearms safety classes either and usually the ones you hear about in the news that have a child that shot them or someone because they were stupid enough to keep a loaded gun where their child could reach it....but for the families we are discussing here, kids playing cops and robbers with plastic guns isn't an issue really now is it?

[Shorty458]

Originally Posted by PeaceAndLove42

One thing I have noticed quite a few parents do is ban "toy guns" just because they are violent or seem to think it'll harm the kids psyche in some way. I never really understood it, I know plenty of kids that grew up "shooting each other" and such and they still came out as law abiding citizens, whereas I have known kids that were banned from them yet ended up with a fascination with guns anyway.

While I only have a daughter she played with them a lot when she was a kid and would go around shooting the other kids and just having a fun time. She's never been a violent person though.

I personally think it's way overkill and the worry that playing around with toy guns will make them more violent/make them want to play with real guns more is totally not true, at the very least in the very tiny amount of cases.

I'd like to hear your thoughts though. Is there any study on it or such even?

I currently don't have kids, but growing up, my brother and I would often play w/ his guns. The nerf guns or water guns, etc. Sure, I don't have kids, but I agree 100% with you. My brother and I, although we are 100% different are not violent at all and neither of us even owns a gun.

[puginabug]

My son was born in 83. We were determined to raise him to not be violent. Never bought toy guns or anything like that. We bought him legos when he was old enough.

Guess what. He built guns with the legos!!

[stan4]

My son is 2.

He is all boy.

He runs, jumps, kicks, and will even work the bag with me. He is great kicking a ball and hitting a ball - even a moving one - with a stick.

The other day, we had another 2 year old over to play.
He brought a toy 6 shooter. He proceeded to point it in everyone's face and yell, "I shoot you!"

That was the most effed up disturbing sh*t I have seen in a long time...and this kid lives in a house full of guns.

Guess which house my son will never set foot in?

BTW, I myself have 5 handguns and an AR15, all loaded and stored in safes all over the house. So I am not anti gun by any means. But that behavior was truly appalling, and I was so happy when my son saw a toy wooden rifle yesterday at his grandfather's house and called it a stick...and played with it like a stick.

We played waterguns and laser tag and war stuff as kids, but when we were old enough to have a little perspective.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by golfgal

They do not have to be mutually exclusive....most kids are smart enough to know that real guns are dangerous and toy guns are a toy...if a parent fails to teach that to a child..and it doesn't need to be done via a "firearms safety class' then they probably shouldn't have kids....it's pretty simple concept even a 2 year old can understand.

You don't know any 2 year olds.

[danielj72]

Oh how I despise the ninny world of 2014. I grew up playing with toy guns back in the 70s, then as an adolescent I learned to safely handle real firearms. I spent my teen years in the woods hunting squirrels, rabbits and deer. I know lots of my classmates spent that same time getting drunk and partying instead. Firearms are NOT bad, they are NOT violent, they are tools. Children who play with toy guns usually are playing cops and robbers or war. They are playing out battles between good and evil and this is normal boy behavior. Those boys grow into men who become protectors, join the army, become law enforcement officers for the betterment of society. These are the people who protect their families when something goes bump in the night, or the policeman who takes the dangerous criminal off the street, or the marine who protects our nation from tyrants. Not trying to offend women here so Ill say this, yes some girls take on the role of protector too, but it is more common in boys, and playing with guns is much more common in boys. That doesn't mean some girls don't do it too, as they do. Guns are only dangerous to those who are sheltered from them and know nothing about them. Those are the people who usually get hurt by them. My wife can use a gun, my son can use a gun and that is the way I want it. Guns are very useful tools for protection and more often for enjoyment. Nothing builds character like teaching your son or daughter to hunt, as it teaches patience, self reliance and respect for nature.

[Larkspur123]

I've had changing feelings about this over the years.

For one, I don't classify nerf guns/squirt guns in the same category as toy guns that more closely approach the appearance of a real gun.

For me personally, I'm not in favor of gun ownership. However, my husband comes from an area where it was more common for people to own guns. He had toy guns growing up. I grew up in area where there was less "gun culture" than where he did. So which area do you think had more crime...it was the area I grew up, which had less of a gun culture.

Someone here said they thought hunting was disgusting...I can only get behind that statement if you don't eat meat. Most people I know who hunt are very thoughtful individuals.

I was never in favor of my kid having a gun that looked realistic in appearance. Other people have said in the thread that even if you don't provide things like play swords or guns the kids will still make them. Almost anything can be used as a sword...a stick from outside, an cardboard paper towel tube, etc.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by L.K.

I remember when my oldest son was in preschool, 1999-2001. The class happened to be predominantly boys. Obviously, toy guns were not allowed in school nor was any type of violent reference or behavior. The two preschool teachers, however, conveyed the fact that the boys, during lunch time, would end up "shooting" with their bananas, and even biting their sandwiches into the shape of a gun to shoot. Where there's a will, there's a way. Agree on teaching gun safety. My boys both played with toy guns, airsoft etc, and could now, as older teens, not care less about them.

I'm torn. I'm an experienced educator who has worked with older students in the past, but now works for an early childhood program, and we don't stock gun toys, we don't allow toy guns from home, and redirect behavior to the best of our ability if gun/shooting stuff enters into dramatic play.

Preschoolers 3-4 years of age are developmentally at a point where they are flexing muscles and behaving in a way that is often consciously combative. Aggressive behavior is at a high point in this age group...younger kids will push and shove another toddler who is in their space, or using a toy they want, but it's less premeditated...the pre-K age, though, is where children exhibit poor impulse control in regard to their emotions. They get angry, and consciously aggress because they are angry. They don't hold back, and they don't have a really developed sense of empathy. They constantly push, pinch, kick, shove, and hit one another, and that's without things to use as weapons/simulate weapons.

Our teachers will see a group of kids playing with Legos, and nine times out of ten, instead of building structures, etc., they are making guns. Our teachers have the kids put the Legos away, and redirect to, say, the toy area, where the kids then pick up rubber dinosaurs and begin "shooting" one another with their dinosaur guns. Or, we go outside, where they shoot one another with finger guns. There's little you can do to redirect if that's what the fixation is. If you separate kids, they'll "shoot" across the room at one another, and teachers trying to curb something you can't really curb just turns it into a game.

We're also military, and the child development center I work for is on a military base. There's an interesting double standard. Parents will complain if their preschooler brings home stories of "Dominic shooting me with Lego guns," and want to know "why we allow" such things, and these same parents play first person shooter games as recreation at home...guns are entertainment, as well as a pervasive part of the at-home culture, for a lot of military members. If young kids are exposed to guns as entertainment, they're going to view guns as entertainment. They're not old enough or developed enough to make any other distinction. So, yeah...don't blame the child development center.