That's what we call it in our house, anyway.

My 5 yo ds likes to make up stories about imaginary characters, which he tells me aloud. Sounds good, right? But...for the past few months (it seems like forever) those stories have become more and more violent in tone, and I'm not sure how to handle it. For example he'll say "Kitty shot Cami in the head," or "Juliet made Princess Buttercup drink gasoline." (Btw, I realize the incongruity of these names. They're the names of his fave stuffed animals and they morphed into characters in his head. Imaginary friends, I guess.)

He'll make these statements and I'm at a loss. I don't want to make too big a deal about it, so I'll say something like "Wow, that's terrible. Is Cami all right?" or sometimes something like "Guns are really scary. I don't like them because they hurt people." but such vague statements seem to encourage him to keep going on in great detail.

I thought this would have blown over by now, but he's keeping it up and the longer it continues the more exasperated I feel. At times I think he's trying to get a rise out of me, and it's working. I've lost my temper and yelled at him a few times recently when he talked like this, which of course had no positive effect. I've told him that I don't like to hear about all these "people" getting hurt and hurting each other, but that goes nowhere. I've tried ignoring it (and explaining to him why), but it seems cruel to ignore him when he's speaking to me directly.

You should know that he watches very little TV or DVDs and my dh and I are pretty much pacifists. No violence, weapons, etc. in our house, or in his life. He also tells me innocent stories about the same characters like "Kitty and Cami are firefighters and they put out a big fire today," or "Juliet is flying a fast jet air plane" so he imagines non-violent scenarios as well.

So, any ideas about how to respond to these violent stories? I feel like he's looking to me to help him understand something, but I'm not sure what. My lame responses haven't seemed to help him so far.

No advice, really, but I think that there is a phase when little kids become... sort of aware of violence, death, etc. It's normal for them to explore that through pretend play. I know it can be uncomfortable.

Thanks for replying, Sylith. It's good to hear from another low-posting old timer!

I figure it's "just a phase," but this particular phase is really driving me batty and I find myself losing my cool more than I like. Maybe if I cross post in GD I'd get more advice...

Hmm, that's a hard one. Maybe encourage him to tell a positive story? I don't know - just thinking out loud but how about something like:
"Wow, I love your stories. You have such a wonderful imagination. But, I sort of feel sad when people keep getting hurt. Would you mind telling me a happy story?"

Thanks, amcal. I'll try that!