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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?
My kids had Nerf guns, then moved up to airsoft (plastic BBs). I taught my oldest to shoot a 9mm handgun when she was 9 years old. My younger daughter wants to learn also but her hands are very small. I've ordered a smaller handgun that she can learn on.
My kids were always taught gun safety even with the Nerf guns (to start learning good gun habits) and didn't run around shooting it at each other.
I don't have any toy guns for my daughter yet but I don't have a problem with them, if she wants one she can have one. She loves watching her dad shoot his air rifle, he'll teach her gun safety.
I consider toy guns to be an inappropriate children's toy.
Absolutely. My son was born in 81 and daughters in 83, 2002. None of them had toy guns. We had water guns for pool play and son enjoyed GI Joe and lots of He Man toys which I think had some sort of small weapons (ruined several vacuums on tiny accessories for dolls and "action figures".)
While we never gave any of our 4 kids toy guns we certainly did not tell them they couldn't play with them at other houses. I suppose they did.
As an adult my son went hunting once with his older stepbrother but hated it. He simply could not harm an animal and was disgusted by it. However he and his dad have gone target shooting and took safety courses together. I don't have a problem with that.
To me toy guns are on the same par with candy cigarettes which were so popular when I was a kid. They make the real items seem like child's play and nothing could be further from the truth.
There was a 20/20 report done several years ago about kids playing with toy guns and playing "cops and robber" type games and the study showed that kids that played games like these were actually less violent, especially boys, because they had a healthy outlet for their behavior. It was very interesting. You can probably find it on their website. Kids will still make guns out of whatever they find--sticks, legos, their fingers, etc.
My siblings and I did not have any toy guns growing up in the '60s and '70s despite growing up two miles down the road from a military base. In fact, I don't remember any of the kids playing shooting games. A lot of our parents were Vietnam vets. Maybe that had something to do with it.
My kids had Nerf toys that simulate guns, but I can't say that they got more than the occasional use. None of the kids have much interest in shooting video games either. My sons have used real firearms at Boy Scout summer camp, while my daughter much prefers archery, but neither is a regular activity.
Last edited by randomparent; 04-11-2014 at 07:04 AM..
Toy guns--yes and no. Water guns--yes after a certain age. A nerf kind of thing that popped out balls, but not a gun shape--yes. Cap guns, BB guns, little guns or larger play guns--no. My kids always knew how I felt about guns.
I do think some of this depends upon where one lives. When my kids were very young we lived in a metro area that did not include hunting. If one heard a gun go off, it was not a good thing. I also grew up in that area so a gun noise was associated with crime. Now we live in an area where many people hunt. When I hear a gun go off, I assume it's a hunter.
There was a 20/20 report done several years ago about kids playing with toy guns and playing "cops and robber" type games and the study showed that kids that played games like these were actually less violent, especially boys, because they had a healthy outlet for their behavior. It was very interesting. You can probably find it on their website. Kids will still make guns out of whatever they find--sticks, legos, their fingers, etc.
Agree....my brothers and their friends ran around playing cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians with toy guns and toy bows and arrow. They grew up to be fine adults.
Some parents cringe at the thought of their kids playing with toy guns but have no problem when they hit the teens to let them sit around for hours playing violent video games...go figure
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.
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