Children need 'gun' play

[Simona]

This is really interesting

Children Need Gun Play | Empowering Childhood

[Tina O]

I'm a childminder with 'British Forces Germany' where we live we have to be careful how we handle 'gun play' . Most of the parents use a gun at work, they are soldiers after all and everyday we walk past guards on the gates holding guns and checking passes as we go to and from school because it is on the army camp. We have always tried to be as positive as possible about guns and why they are in the community- not an easy task sometimes.

[Mrs Scrubbit]

Not sure how I feel about this, as I now only work with pre-schoolers and the word 'guns' and ' weapons' are not in our vocab. My own children never had the need for 'guns' either and they are all adult men now and showing no signs of being deprieved of these items and play scenarios during their childhood days xxx

[lilac_dragon]

I've childminded for parents who have been Police officers - Armed Response Unit, and for Army and Air Force personnel.
In the far off days of my early childminding, guns and weapons of all sorts were frowned upon. I can remember at an Inspection having to justify the (controlled) play with the reminder that the parents who had a need to use these weapons weren't "baddies" they were actually the "Superhero Goodies" who were using their weapons to defend people. It will always be a very difficult subject I'm afraid.
Personally, when a bomb went off in Manchester when my son and I were Christmas shopping, I was SO relieved to see a Police Officer with a gun running to help us.

[The Juggler]

i would never encourage gun play but neither will I stop a child who plays with a gun or makes one out of lego. What I do is teach them we don't "kill each other" that we use guns to help each other, arrest the 'baddies' and arrest them. We dont' kill people because they are bad.

however, i imagine as some post say this is a more difficult issue to cover with children who are families of forces dads/mums.

[FloraDora]

In the 80's I was a mum who said her son would never play with guns - we didn't watch tv (still don't) so there wasn't an external influence( playstation and x box had not surfaced yet) yet he made gun type weapons out of sticks, any construction etc... So ...where did it come from? I found the article really interesting thankyou.

[The Juggler]

[QUOTE=FloraDora;1321556]In the 80's I was a mum who said her son would never play with guns - we didn't watch tv (still don't) so there wasn't an external influence( playstation and x box had not surfaced yet) yet he made gun type weapons out of sticks, any construction etc... So ...where did it come from? I found the article really interesting thankyou.[/QUOT

plenty of stuff in magazines. influence from other children at playgroup and school

[MessybutHappy]

Nothing better than a nerff gun battle through the house!

That said, I make sure everyone knows that my kids have toy guns and play Cowboys and Indians, whether it's school play-dates or mindee's parents!

[FloraDora]

[QUOTE=The Juggler;1321623]

In the 80's I was a mum who said her son would never play with guns - we didn't watch tv (still don't) so there wasn't an external influence( playstation and x box had not surfaced yet) yet he made gun type weapons out of sticks, any construction etc... So ...where did it come from? I found the article really interesting thankyou.[/QUOT

plenty of stuff in magazines. influence from other children at playgroup and school

Nope...no pre schools and ...gun like weapons appeared before school...At the time I was fascinated....read every research...analysed DH's interaction with his sons.. Really feel its a 'cave man' hereditory thing!

[FussyElmo]

Nothing better than a nerff gun battle through the house!

That said, I make sure everyone knows that my kids have toy guns and play Cowboys and Indians, whether it's school play-dates or mindee's parents!

We enjoy a nerf battle too. I really need the pink crossbow they have brought out. Opps sorry typo there my dds really need the pink crossbow :-D;-):-D

[MessybutHappy]

We enjoy a nerf battle too. I really need the pink crossbow they have brought out. Opps sorry typo there my dds really need the pink crossbow :-D;-):-D

You'll need at least two, you know you need one in use and one for spare just in case you get backed into a corner!

[hectors house]

We discussed "guns in role play" at my positive behaviour course at the weekend - one lady there said her son's Nursery school had a no guns policy but her son (unbeknown to her) took a used bullet, from his uncle who was a soldier, in his pocket - the Nursery teacher went mad with child, stood up and ranted on about guns and bad people who use them, this obviously really upset the child as his uncle was not a "bad" man.

I live in rural area where shot guns are used for shooting game and for pest control - I don't have any guns in my setting but they make them out of lego, construction straws etc anyway.

[JCrakers]

I never promoted guns with my ds, yet he would always pick up a stick at the park and aim it...he would use a cardboard tube, a play mop etc.....

My dh knows the name of some guns as he is a huge history fan, loves WW1, WW2 etc. He tells me its boy stuff and he's always been interested in war and historical fighting. Although he didn't really talk or watch things in front of ds.
Now my ds is 14 and is an xbox nerd....loves call of Duty, battle field etc and I often find dh up in his room watching or joining in.

It doesn't interest me at all...It is all genetically in there, just like girls will automatically head towards the dolls and pushchairs as they have a desire to nurture and care for offspring.

[JCrakers]

We discussed "guns in role play" at my positive behaviour course at the weekend - one lady there said her son's Nursery school had a no guns policy but her son (unbeknown to her) took a used bullet, from his uncle who was a soldier, in his pocket - the Nursery teacher went mad with child, stood up and ranted on about guns and bad people who use them, this obviously really upset the child as his uncle was not a "bad" man.

I live in rural area where shot guns are used for shooting game and for pest control - I don't have any guns in my setting but they make them out of lego, construction straws etc anyway.

Now, that is really bad........ I'm shocked actually!!! War is part of our history, fact!! and for a little boy to take something that was part of our history and get shouted and ranted at is awful.....

[kellyskidz!]

Hmmm interesting one
I had a scan around my house and noticed we had toy soldiers, and a policeman in our small world set with a gun in his belt
Also we have water guns outside which have been put away until the summer
My 2 year old nephew is a 'typical' boy who has numerous toys guns and shoots me every time I go visiting lol (warm welcome to be shot upon arrival!)
Thinking about it though he does play more violently than my daughter and says things like 'I'll kill you' when they're playing games but I assume this is fairly normal as he's not the first little boy I've heard talking like this
I think its true that most children, especially boys, will play with a toy gun at some point. It's funny how they all know what to do with it too! Even little ones will pick them up at playgroup and go bang bang, how do they know?!