Play Guns

I had the same problem with my son he was so excited to pretend toys were guns. I didn't know all the gun safety rules so I didn't want him to play with them. If I got him a little toy guy and it had a gun I would take fingernail clippers and cut off the little gun. Then I went to a website about gun safety and got a look at some of the safety rule and picked out a few big ones to teach him and every time he didnt follow them I took the toy gun away. After a while it works and he learned so - good luck

Hey J. !

I agree with alot of what these ladies are saying ! Gun safty starts at home with you. My boys have had water guns in the summer and on occasions I have bought cap guns but the never look real there always brite colored. The boys know never to point at each other ! I never wanted my boys to personally handle toy guns but I relized early on we really can stop it because there every where. From cowboys and indians ! To being the sherrif ! Cops and Robbers ! Wheres the fun in Halloween w/o the toy guns !

http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/disciplin...

here is a site to some suggestions for dealing with a tough situation..remember many very passive men played with toy guns as a child.

J.,

Your question really stuck me. Last weekend I was at Stone Mountain and there was a teenager boy with a "toy" shot gun walking through the park, aiming the gun at trees, objects, and people and shooting them. It wasn't just the shooting that caught my eye, but he was acting like he was a militia or a cop with twirling the gun, cocking it and spinning it to shoot something. Needless to say it kinda freaked me out. I asked my husband what his thought on toy guns. He said, "how else will he learn". My thought was, why do they have to learn and why does it have to happen in public. I think that if you teach your boys about gun safety and proper use then it is okay, just don't let them do it outside of the house. Especially in today's society, you definitly don't want your boys to think that carrying a gun is okay, even if it is a toy gun. For me, if the gun looks less like a gun and more like a toy then the reality of gun play changes.

Hi J.,
I have a 6 year old boy and we don't allow him to have any guns. He does have a couple of squirt guns but even with those he knows not to directly point it at someone's face or be violent with it. I can see your point about banning it completely but my son doesn't seem to miss it.
For myself, I don't see anything positive about play guns. Maybe just explain to him that Elmer Fudd is a hunter and that's why he has a gun and that it's just a cartoon. But again, it hasn't effected my six year old one way or the other not having guns to play with. Hope this helps some what. Have a great day.

Hi J.! I am VERY against guns. The play guns as a child, may become REAL guns as an adult. We moved here a year ago from up North. Guns were real in bad parts of the city there. When we moved to the South we were shocked & amazed how many people bought their wives & children guns as Holiday GIFTS! Unless your children are SUPER responsible at such a young age, I would say NO to playing with toy guns. Just my opinion though....

Dear J., i to am a mother of a little boy who loves guns.I have 4 older kids.I let my son play with toy guns and if you teach them along the way of the right and wrong and dangers of guns, maybe when he gets older, there wont be a problem...

My husband and I have been going over this issue for years. I was raised in the North and my husband in the South. My mother had a gun, but I was never allowed to touch it, and am really fearful of them. My husband however went hunting with his Dad, and although he never killed a deer (and doesn't want to) he believes that teaching gun safety is the best way to teach your child not to fear guns and know how to use (or not use) them when someone else has one near you. And, while I don't want one in my house, you never know what friend your son might have in the future whose parents will own one. In fact, Kennesaw has a law on the books that you must own a gun in order to own a house. Gun playing is an opportunity for you and your son. Play gunfights can teach a clear right and wrong in a world where nothing is so clear (spiderman vs bad guy/ cops and druggies). I can also give confidence in him being able to see that fine line. It also gives you the opportunity to teach him how to play so that if he is ever confronted with an ignorant friend who has careless parents- he knows what to do. I hope this and all other advice helps. good luck.

I don't think there is anyway around it, kids will play guns with anything that will work for a substitute. I was one of those moms that said my children will never have play guns and guess what, my son has a stick "gun" collection he has started outside. Even if you keep guns away from your children they will come accross them eventually. I think what is important is that you tell him it is ok to pretend, but also give him the facts about real guns. Lay down the law and tell him he is not to touch any gun he finds (might or might not be a toy), to stay away from them and to tell an adult if he sees one.

I would not stress over it.Ihave 2 boys also and playing with toy guns is just something they do.Just let them know that those are toys and the real ones can hurt someone.In other words just try to teach them about them

I never wanted my kids to play with guns. I was worried about what they would think or do. But never the less I couldnt keep it away from them because my husband is a soldier and the kids want to copy him. So in the end we agreed that they could play with toy guns ( that look like toys not real guns) as long as they followed the rules and went through gun safety course. If they point it at a person or say anything that gets under my skin I sit down and talk to them and take the toy away. We really have had any problems. My kids are great and understand the rules and what guns are for and how to use them properly (even if it is just a toy). I think all moms have to do what they feel is best. But I do have aproblem with moms who let their kids play with guns that look real or when they let them act like they are real. When we are confronted with this I make sure I explain to them what they child is doing wrong so they know and are educated on every aspect of it. Good luck and God bless.

Well, the only guns we have at our house for the kids to play with don't look like real guns they are squirt guns...in fact those are the only guns we have at our house anyway. I let my boys know that there are reals ones and they can hurt people, they've now see some stuff on TV so it's no secret. However at other peoples houses if your kids visit like mine have they come across toys guns with other boys toys and I let them play with them then but I never encourage people to buy them for my kids I never make a big deal out about it so they never really want or pick them out at the toy isle. I stick with just squirt guns in the summer and I think they get there fix in fact it's my only chance to get my husband and the kids, I was trained at 13 by my brother in law how to shoot and respect a gun (he trained as a State Highway Patrolman) therefore I'm a better aim. my experience has been with my kids make no big deal they forget. Oh, and I even now don't let them watch much bugs bunny or porky pig. We stick with Dora (yes even now) and I admit I do let them watch spiderman and batman but I'd rather my kids run around the front yard (and they do) in their capes acting as if they are lifting people out from rock slides then pointing guns that look real. Squirt guns here have to look bright colored and not real guns if possible but at least bright in color. It's your choice how to handle it I too had a cap gun as a kid but times and kids kinda are different. Best of luck.

I havent read any of the other comments from the other mothers but my husband plays video games like Halo 3 that are based on shooting other people and my son loves watching it.He also had a few toy gun (one which my husband bought a few days ago).He also has a cap gun...he dosnt play with it much b/c of the load sound.But he loves playing with guns and pretending to shoot us.Which sounds bad but he loves to us act silly and pretend to fall.I think it all depends on how your son takes to it.My son plays with his like any innocent 4 yr old would....just in the way he plays I know he realizes the difference between pretending and not pretending.If your son shows an evil intent (unlike the one we as kids use to have when shooting our siblings in the hallway) then those toys may not be the best for him.I think its a personal decision you have to base on how your child acts with the gun.My son is very smart and he has a need to know how ll things work,right down to the nuts and bolts.I also had a talk with him after his daddy brought home a gun that some teenager thought was a bb gun so my husband bought it off of him for 20 bucks.I was scared and relieved at the same time...I dont like having a gun in my house but I also was disturbed by the fact that a 13 yr old was carrying around a gun that he presumed to be a bb gun and could have sold it to another child.Anyway, my son noticed it the other day and asked if he could give daddy his gun in a trade for the real one.Naturally my answer was not far from HELL no and I explained to him that real guns hurt people.He wanted to know when should you shoot someone.So I told him that he is to never,ever shoot anything or anyone.That guns were for the cops.So he asked why daddy had one.So the only logical thing I could tell him is that daddy had the gun to protect us.So he asked if daddy was going to shoot someone..I told him of course not.But still to this day he tries to get me to explain why guns exsist.Im not quite sure what more to tell him.Anyway,just go with your gut feeling.If you dont think ur 3 yr old can understand that his gun is a toy and that real ones are a no no, then find him a new favorite.

J.,
I wasn't wild about guns at all. I didn't like my now 9 yo. to have any toy weapons at all. Of course he goes to preschool and within the 1st week he is making guns out of everything, i.e. sticks, his fingers, tinker toys, leggos. You name it, it has been a gun. I guess what I'm saying is that you can only insulate your child from the big world for a short time before outside influences make thier way into your life. Do what feels right. My son understands what guns do, he understands about the war in Iraq. Our rule of thumb is to never point and pretend to shoot a person or animal - if he does the "gun" is disposed of imeediately (hard to do when it's your fingers!?!. He rec'd his 1st "weapon" last christmas -a Star Wars light saber. Even at that Santa brought it, thereby keeping with the rule that mom will never buy him a weapon. By the time he figures it out, we will revisit it again.

With my eldest son, he was allowed to have toy guns but not allowed to point them at "People or Property!" He seemed to do well with that. I tried to teach him not to point guns at anything other than pretend monsters. I have two more boys now, ages 4 and 1. At first I tried to avoid the whole toy gun thing altogether, but as everyone with in-laws knows, if you forbid it, they will buy it. I tried the whole "People or Property" thing again with absolutely NO success what so ever. I finally gave up and decided that every boy is different and whether they have toy guns or not, if they want to pretend like they do they will with any available object. Don't sweat the small stuff, save your energy for bigger battles.