Pls share your families take on gun play - Page 2

[mamadelbosque]

DS1 is 3.5 and is getting a nerf gun for xmas - he's played w/ them at friends and loves them, and I for one am OK with it. Its just pretend... I'm not into limiting his play, and anything that keeps him up and running around is, IMHO a good thing :)

[Hoopin' Mama]

I am not spending money on a toy gun. I just don't think it's something I need to be purposefully buying and bringing into the house. Ds improvises and does gun play with whatever he find. Yesterday it was an empty paper towel roll, which he used to take out any zombies that may be living in the house.

Our rule is no pretend shooting at people. And we talk about real guns and what they can do.

I let him play with his friend's nerf guns when visiting at their house. He's 6 and he's already exposed to it. I'm not going to micromanage his play when they are just shooting at the ceiling.

[cappuccinosmom]

My boys are allowed "gun play" of a sort.  Our rule is "You don't kill people.  And guns are dangerous so you don't point at people even in play."  They are allowed to "hunt", and to play pirates and that sort of thing, but no taking aim at each other or friends.

[redpajama]

We don't have a lot of rules about guns, but we don't bring any gun-toys into the house (nerf, et cetera).  I don't limit the shooting of pretend bullets out of pretend guns--hurting or annoying other people is discouraged, regardless of the form the hurting/annoyance takes.

We do have friends with Nerf guns, and I don't mind my son playing with them at their house(s).  There, I have reminded my son not to shoot at people unless they are willing participants, and then not at their faces.  Otherwise, I just tell them to keep the game outside/upstairs/away from the people who aren't playing.

When my son was younger, I remember feeling very anti-gun, but I've found that I don't really need to be--he rarely chooses to play this way and, when he does, it doesn't seem to lead to any particular problems.

[chelsmm]

We don't have set rules about gun play, although I do end the game if kids are getting upset.  DS (3.5) really loves to play guns.  He was using a carrot the other day for a gun.  He's still pretty little, but sometimes he'll pretend to shoot at real people.  I discourage this and often suggest he pretend he's hunting for dinner or something.  He also plays pirates and Star Wars, even though he really has no idea what Star Wars is.

DH has a hand gun and a shot gun in the house, so we do talk about gun safety.  My kids watch their dad clean the gun, and they have been to the range with him.  I'm not concerned about the kids finding dh's guns because they are locked in a safe, unloaded, and the shot gun isn't even put together when it's stored.  But I do want to be sure that if they ever encounter a gun somewhere else that they are prepared to walk away (or run away) and find an adult.