would you let your child have a toy gun?

mumoo

Sun, Mar 04 2007, 1:26 am

shanie5 wrote:

toy and gun in the same sentence is the problem. children should know that guns are not and never will be a toy. that is the reason I am against toy guns and play shooting. if my child wants to learn how to use a gun when s/he is older, that is fine, but as a toy-not in my house.

was just going to say that shainie. there's nothing wrong with a policeman having a gun. or with a trained person going to a range. or with a soldier, etc. but imo, to allow young boys to PLAY with these weapons like its a game, desensitizes them to the real life ramifications of gun usage. its serious and not a game. my boys grew up fine without guns, so I don't care if I "deprived" them of toy guns.

a cute side story: a woman I know said one of the influences on her becoming frum was watching two frum boys in Israel playing guns. One pointesd a guin-finger at the other and said, "Bang, you're dead, chas v'shalom"

Imaonwheels

Sun, Mar 04 2007, 5:02 am

deedee wrote:

I also grew up in a real gun family. I still would not let my kids play with toy guns. there is a diffrence b/t knowing about real guns and playing with toy ones. usually kids play with each other and this is who they would be "shooting" at.
I dont like when my kids play doctor either, why should they play a game where they are sick and have to go to the dr. I dont buy them toy scalples and drills to play with!

So how do your kids who are not mature enough to express or even totally chap themselves their thoughts and concerns what they see in the real world in a setting where you are there to observe. Most kids are not shooting at their brother, they are shooting the bad guy he happens to represent. In the next game the other kid may be the bad guy. If your child is constantly killing his brother, as his brother and not some goniff or other bad guy, I would watch their interaction. Esp if the game is agressive.

Because most kids have fears of the dr and they need to know that the doc will also not hurt them maliciously and going to the dr when you are sick is the natural thing to do.

My kids never have had any diff distinguishing. People who don't have real guns will often have a very realistic toy on the dash while driving. Kids who are around guns know much better than those who are not. A bright colored squirt gun certainly cannot be mistaken for real and kids get so much enjoyment out of them.

I think that parents way me under the impression that because a child knows words he has understanding of concepts. Play allows the child to express more eloquently what he is thinking.

Imaonwheels

Sun, Mar 04 2007, 5:18 am

mumoo wrote:

[
but imo, to allow young boys to PLAY with these weapons like its a game, desensitizes them to the real life ramifications of gun usage. its serious and not a game. my boys grew up fine without guns, so I don't care if I "deprived" them of toy guns.

a cute side story: a woman I know said one of the influences on her becoming frum was watching two frum boys in Israel playing guns. One pointesd a guin-finger at the other and said, "Bang, you're dead, chas v'shalom"

The supposition is proven not true for those who have. It is the witness of violence, real or staged, that desensitizes. Your story just proves the effect of proper chinuch to put things in perspective.