What are your thoughts on...

[Mouse]

...mindees playing with Action Man, Barbies, Bratz etc?

When I first registered (many years ago!) they were a complete no-no and Social Services (as it was then) would probably have shut you down on the spot if you so much as mentioned Action Man!

What is current thinking? I've never given the mindees anything like that to play with (I usually have younger ones), but I'm sure some of the older ones would love playing with them.

Do you have them? Particularly with Action Man, what do you do if the children start playing fighting games? Do you let them have all the guns etc that come with them? Has anything ever been said to you about their suitability? I'm interested in all views, both for & against.

[Polly2]

Personally I can't stand them! Especially the disney princess barbies...pet hate of mine.

I had a mindee that loved them - trouble was she thought she was a princess too :rolleyes: she used to bring hers from home to play with and I used to hide them in her bag ha!

[Pedagog]

Personally I have no problem with children playing with these sort of toys, my own children have always had them (except Bratz, do not like those).

The Newer Action man had no weapons, just snowboards and diving kit, my sons now 9 and 17 have many action men, both ones that my eldest had new and old ones from my childhood, they have weapons and use them sensibly. My youngest son currently has the new armed forces action figures on order ready for when they launch on VE day. I think its very important for children to learn about the military.

In my childminding toys, I have sailors, soldiers and airman in the People who help us figures, and also on the poster my children made.

I suppose we maybe slightly biased, hubby and eldest son both being in the Navy.

Children with toy guns do not become nutters.

As for Barbie, well action Man needs a wife.:)

[ajs]

don't like them my self but i had a daughter who absolutley loved barbies ( funnliy enough and one who absolutley hated them)

i do have a few left from c and my 7 yr old does like to play with them. we have a few action men too but over the yrs the guns have been removed.
i don't have any boys (mindees) of the right age so no gun fights here but i think i would put a stop to them if they got out of hand or too violent.
i never gave my son a gun to play with but it never stopped ihm getting lego or twigs and pretending they were guns.
not sure of the official line these days but i remember the ss time you mention

[Mollymop]

I have never heard that Barbies and Action Men, etc are a problem. I always let my mindees play with whatever they want as long it is safe and age appropriate.

I let my mindees play with toy guns as well as long as they don't get too rough. They sometimes run around the garen pretending to shoot each other. It's only natural, especially for boys.

I did read a news article a few months back, maybe last summer, that the "whoever they are" think that childcare setting should let children play with toy guns.

I remember a debate on here about toys guns a while back and we all had our own opinions on the matter.

[youarewhatyoueat]

Personally i'm not that keen but it is now thought a healthy way to teach young children about violence and how NOT to hurt others, playgroups have now taken the aproach that children not just boys enjoy play fighting and they are taught to follow rules that they make up themselves. You can also go on a training course called super-hero and weapon play. It is supposed to support the childs social and emotional development.I'm still not convinced but being a mother of 2 boys I have to admit that the younger child who is at playgroup understands when enough is enough and can use play weapons without hurting his brother.
I will keep an open mind on this one!!!!

[Blackhorse]

I don't think that there is anything wrong with action men and barbies...as long as things don't go out of hand.
I would not buy toy guns as such as I don't like them, but would buy water-guns as I think it is fun (not sure if this is a contradiction but that's just what is going on in my head..:) )

The course on super hero and weapon play sounds interesting? Is that online? Not sure if it is available in scotland too?

I would double check maybe with Ofsted / care commission what there point of view is just to be on the safe side...and see what the parents think as well as they could object to them

[nannysue]

I have both but to be honest the children do not really show much interest. Yrs ago the girls used to play with the Barbies all the time. I don't have any of the acceccories such as guns, knives etc with Action Man, just the different vehicles.

My son now 36 thinks it is soooo sad :o that i used to knit clothes for his Action Man but they really did make proper knitting patterns back then!!

[tinkerbelle]

i have both barbes and action man with the cars tanks and houses etc
all the kids love playing with them boys and girls so i dont mind

[youarewhatyoueat]

the course on super-hero and weapon play is being run in gloucestershire for all early years practitioners by the council and i'm sure it's available in worcestershire. contact your child development officer and see if it can be run near you.It's a full day so should be interesting.

[singlewiththree]

I have them but the mindees dont want to play with them so my girls use them in the bath!

What about guns? my 4yr old mindee yesterday was using bricks to build a gun and was shooting everyone. Having 3 daughters I'm not used to this.

[Mouse]

Thanks for your replies.

Personally I don't like gun play & my own children have never had them. Also I never liked that Action Man only ever seemed to come with nasty weapons. It sounds like that's changed now.

I do use the children's interest in superheros etc, to aid their learning. For example, one child learnt his colours through Power Rangers and another learnt the sounds of letters with the help of Ben 10!

I'm still undecided. I think I've had it drummed into me for so long that Barbie & Action Man are wrong, that I'm find it difficult to change my view!

Searching online I found a whole discussion about this very subject, so I'll have a read of that later.

[Rach30]

What on earth can be wrong with them ?

[FussyElmo]

All mine play with them my ds can turn anything into a gun/lightsaber etc. :)

[LisaH]

I don't have either Action Man or Barbie in my house. My own children are boys and have never been interested in them so never bought any.

As for guns, only have water guns!! My boys and mindees 'make' guns out of anything they can get hold of anyway, no point trying to supress that one:laughing:

[sue m]

I don't have any, maybe when my granddaughter gives some of hers away I will see what I think but I was stumped and speechless :eek: a couple of weeks ago when my little mindee brought his gun! I just didn't know what to say. I had mindees who's Mum and Dads were police officers and friends who were police officers and their kids never had gune so it's never been an issue before. My kids always had them 30 years ago but never had a mindee with one. I didn't say anything and when Dad had dropped them off, I hid it! Mindee never asked for it anyway.

[beckyteddy]

I've noticed that my boys will play gun games with anything they can get their hands on too! My four year old was playing with Hama beads yesterday. The two girls each made a flower and a bunny, whilst my son made a Hama bead gun!! :blush:

I just try and direct the play away from "killing" by joining in the role play, and asking what the gun shoots out ie. gunge or stink bombs etc. My husband is in the military so we hear practice gun-shots all day from the shooting range round the corner. We have talked about how guns are used by good, brave people to protect us and how killing is not really a nice thing to joke about. I don't know if it's sunk in or not, but I have tried not to make a big issue out of something I think they are a bit too young to fully understand.

[mum22]

tbh i dont have a problem with the actual figures and have a few action men and barbie type dolls, but no accessories , guns etc, and my lot love putting them in buggies and taking them out for walks and just have very innocent child play with them all.