I'm having a hard time with this topic. I hate getting overly involved with background, but I kinda feel it's warranted this time.
My son is 3.5. Our neighbor kids have a ridiculous arsenal of play guns. They are 7 and 9. I don't really make any comments to them about their guns, but they do a lot of violent play (even without the guns) so it has been discussed to quite an extent with DS.
He also has a grandfather (my dad) who is really into guns, but only for target practice and hunting. He goes hunting a few times a year, once with my step-brother, and they share the meat with us. My Dad is super super paranoid about gun safety and has his guns under triple lock and key, and he's the only one who has the key to the room they are stored in. My DS has seen a few of Papa's guns when he happened upon him cleaning them, but the guns were immediately re-stored once DS came in the room. Papa has indicated that he really wants to teach DS how to use a gun when he is the appropriate age (we have not agreed yet on an age) and to take him hunting when he is a teen. I can just hear the excitement in both their voices when they talk about it. We have had endless conversations about it, I've played "hunting" with him, and we've watched some YouTube videos of skeet shooting competitions in an attempt to take some of the new sheen off the topic. He's still obsessed.
I hate guns. I feel they can be used as a tool, and I don't have a problem with the hunting stuff (as long as we talk about safety and laws and conservation and all that at some point) but that kind of gun play inevitably leads to shooting people (especially with the neighbor kids outside shooting each other all the time
).
I have read some of Playful Parenting and the author says that this is a typical thing they just have to work through. We do not have any toy guns, but everything else has become a gun. What sorts of things do you teach through this type of play? What's age appropriate for 3.5yo? Do I tell him not to shoot people, or let him work through that? How do I answer the every 15 min questions "Am I old enough for a gun yet?" Do I get over my feelings about playing games where I am an animal and he shoots me (it just feels so yucky to me) or limit his games to non-people shooting?
What are your thoughts? I'm willing to hear both sides of the argument. I know this is a hot topic, I hope I haven't offended anyone.
TIA.
My son is 3.5. Our neighbor kids have a ridiculous arsenal of play guns. They are 7 and 9. I don't really make any comments to them about their guns, but they do a lot of violent play (even without the guns) so it has been discussed to quite an extent with DS.
He also has a grandfather (my dad) who is really into guns, but only for target practice and hunting. He goes hunting a few times a year, once with my step-brother, and they share the meat with us. My Dad is super super paranoid about gun safety and has his guns under triple lock and key, and he's the only one who has the key to the room they are stored in. My DS has seen a few of Papa's guns when he happened upon him cleaning them, but the guns were immediately re-stored once DS came in the room. Papa has indicated that he really wants to teach DS how to use a gun when he is the appropriate age (we have not agreed yet on an age) and to take him hunting when he is a teen. I can just hear the excitement in both their voices when they talk about it. We have had endless conversations about it, I've played "hunting" with him, and we've watched some YouTube videos of skeet shooting competitions in an attempt to take some of the new sheen off the topic. He's still obsessed.
I hate guns. I feel they can be used as a tool, and I don't have a problem with the hunting stuff (as long as we talk about safety and laws and conservation and all that at some point) but that kind of gun play inevitably leads to shooting people (especially with the neighbor kids outside shooting each other all the time
).I have read some of Playful Parenting and the author says that this is a typical thing they just have to work through. We do not have any toy guns, but everything else has become a gun. What sorts of things do you teach through this type of play? What's age appropriate for 3.5yo? Do I tell him not to shoot people, or let him work through that? How do I answer the every 15 min questions "Am I old enough for a gun yet?" Do I get over my feelings about playing games where I am an animal and he shoots me (it just feels so yucky to me) or limit his games to non-people shooting?
What are your thoughts? I'm willing to hear both sides of the argument. I know this is a hot topic, I hope I haven't offended anyone.
TIA.
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. I think a sword feels different to me because I can defend myself. Our rule with swords is that you don't sword fight anyone unless they also have a sword and agree to fight. With a gun, it's pretty much "Bang, I killed you!" and that's it.
They weren't aiming the guns at anybody else, and they weren't being especially loud. One person was wearing a chicken suit. Still, somebody didn't think it was funny, so they called the cops, and my buddies were all arrested (one was handcuffed and taken downtown dressed like a chicken). Moral is: playing with toy guns is okay up until a certain age, as long as there aren't sensitive neighbors around, and nobody's wearing a costume.
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