Toy guns

[wendywu]

But then looking at it Paintballing should be banned, adults pretending to kill each other, and what about battle reenactments that take place at various shows around the country.

One argument just leads to another frame of thought.

[Hebs]

But then looking at it Paintballing should be banned, adults pretending to kill each other, and what about battle reenactments that take place at various shows around the country.

One argument just leads to another frame of thought.

i have a paintballing party booked for my son's 11th birthday

I am shocked and disgusted by the comments of some members on this forum, souldn't get any lower IMO

[ajs]

we seem to have deviated from the point, soldiers in the army are not playing wiht guns they are trained servicemen and are doing a job.

that said i do not think that in this day and age with the last 3 months in the news right now ( raoul moat and the cumbria killer) that we should be encouraging the use of guns for fun.


having reread the whole thread before i posted hebs, jojo doesn't say that our soldiers in afghansitan aren't heroes just that being in the army doesn't automatically make you a hero.

this country should not be fighting in afghan and the soldiers should be withdrawn before another life is lost in vain

[onceinabluemoon]

I have a reason for not letting my own or any other child play with guns in my 'house'.

My Grandfather had his brains blown out by one.

To see a child put a toy gun to another child's head and go BANG! makes me feel physically sick.

I'm sorry if my preferences offend anybody and certainly don't want to be part of any argument or bad feeling that is going on here, just wanting to explain why...

[ajs]

I have a reason for not letting my own or any other child play with guns in my 'house'.

My Grandfather had his brains blown out by one.

To see a child put a toy gun to another child's head and go BANG! makes me feel physically sick.

I'm sorry if my preferences offend anybody and certainly don't want to be part of any argument or bad feeling that is going on here, just wanting to explain why...

oh that's awful sorry to hear that oiabm

[Hebs]

its just a matte of personal opinion - makes the world go round i see playing 'army' as being the same as gun weilding thugs as we are currently occupying parts of the world that have nowt to do with us than making the government profit.

i think she does, as she goes on to slate the armed forces

why bring the forces into this?

I posted that my brother played with guns/swords etc as a child and went on to join the armed forces so it didnt do him any harm, which she disagreed with

kids have played with toy guns/swords etc for centuries and hasn't turned them into manics, it's poor parenting and poor education that do the harm not the item itself

[Hebs]

and this from dare4distance

Just because you're in the army it doesn't make you a hero

[sweets]

i don't let my mindees play with guns or bring them to my house, one did once and walked in a pointed it straight at a babies head and said BANG! it completely horrified me and i asked his mum to take it home with her which she did.

I do think there is a difference with playing with guns years ago and playing with them nowadays. Gun culture is part of our world and every day in the paper or on the news there are reports of someone being shot or stabbed, children see this and to me it makes playing with guns and knives WRONG.

I dont have too much of an issue with swords as they are not really part of our lives, we dont see them on the news i see them as more of children playing pirates, me and a friend went to a forest last week and our 4 year old mindees picked up sticks and played swords, that seemed fine. but if they had pretented they were guns i would have stopped them.

children need to be taught that guns are horrible things that kill and ruin lives.

[ORKSIE]

I have a reason for not letting my own or any other child play with guns in my 'house'.

My Grandfather had his brains blown out by one.

To see a child put a toy gun to another child's head and go BANG! makes me feel physically sick.

I'm sorry if my preferences offend anybody and certainly don't want to be part of any argument or bad feeling that is going on here, just wanting to explain why...

Thats terrible, Blue. I am so sorry to hear this.
I would feel exactly he same

xx

[ORKSIE]

we seem to have deviated from the point, soldiers in the army are not playing wiht guns they are trained servicemen and are doing a job.

that said i do not think that in this day and age with the last 3 months in the news right now ( raoul moat and the cumbria killer) that we should be encouraging the use of guns for fun.




this country should not be fighting in afghan and the soldiers should be withdrawn before another life is lost in vain

I agree

[Pipsqueak]

Since time began young children (girls and boys) have been playing with toy guns/knives/bows and arrows - pretending to be a solider, cowboy(girl), indian and so on. Its all been part of growing up. I remember a 'gang' of us from the street - we used to have cowboys and indians all summer long and strangely enough we all grew up to be pretty decent people.
However, that we in the age BEFORE very realistic video games and access to DVD's that are age inappropriate.
It was all very innocent times. I think we even played in black and white !!! lol. I cannot ever recall being told that guns kill and knives make you bleed. In saying that I grew up in a family where guns were 'respected' - my uncles went out shooting and yes I have held a real gun when i was quite young. We learnt from an early age - after being repeatedly told don't waft your (dinner) knife about it will hurt someone and when you cooked with mum, you soon learned that yes that chopping knife is blooming sharp and it CUTS and makes you bleed - not that your mum had much sympathy after telling you a zillion times and she had to chuck away all the prepped food that you had just bled over because you didn't listen!
We learnt at our parents knee because our parents TAUGHT us, we didn't learn through the media and video games.

My children have played with toy guns and knives and bow and arrows, eldest has even been paintballing and we have been laser gaming.
They are pretty well adjusted, they understand that guns and knives can be extremely dangerous - as parents we have taught them that.
I don't allow the hollywood type of blowing holes in each other type of play though - it gratitous violence.

Children, since time began will make a gun/knife/bow and arrow or other weapon out of all sorts of things - body parts, sticks, pieces of paper and pure imagination. Its how we deal with it as adults that matters.


I do think that the Armed Forces should not be bought into this discussion though. People are entitled to their opinions and I do find some comments a little offensive, although i know things gt lost in translation on a forum.
Once upon a time 70 years ago - if it wasn't for some HERO'S willing to stand up and put their lives on the line then none of us would be allowed to be expressing the opinions that we are doing - life potentially would have been extremely different. My Dad - underage at the time, my Uncles and various other family members signed up to the Armed Forces to ensure that this country and many others remained free, and I thank them for that - I also thank todays servicemen and women who CHOOSE to freely put their lives on the line and serve their country. However, this discussion is not about the Armed Services is it.

[Dare4Distance]

and this from dare4distance

Just because you're in the army it doesn't make you a hero

Exactly. You can join the army for a week and then leave. Are you still a hero? No.

[auntym]

If one of my mindees came in an indian outfit and another in cowboy one and played that game id be happy for that.
Trouble is they dont!
One comes in, toy gun, points it and says im gonna blow your head off!
Guess what, gun goes home!
I have small wooden old fashioned swords with cape and helmets and feel thats ok.
Kids dont always play as we use to and it is partly down to current parenting etc.
Sunday at my dads was bonanza lol, sunday now is rerun of depressing eastenders lol.
Children will play army games now as thats what is shown on news and games.
No point having a dig at soldiers, the question was not aimed at them

[Hebs]

i actually find it fascinting that people say no to guns but dont mind swords (big knives really) and we have a bigger probalem in this country with knife crime than gun crime

[sarah707]

There is a school of thought which says...

The Eyfs says we must follow children's interests... if we are stopping children playing games that interest them, then we are not doing this!

While I agree that pointing a gun at a baby and saying bang is unacceptable, we might use the child's actions to teach them to play in more acceptable ways with the toys they want to use rather than banning them completely.

So to the child who says bang, we say yes, a gun goes bang, when do we use guns? We then maybe read a story about a gun, look at cartoon strips where characters fall over and pop up and discuss how this is pretend.. so the child learns to appreciate the difference between real life and pretend etc.

Similarly the theorists say that children must experience risk. If we take away everything that we deem to be potentially risky from their play they are more likely to...

1. Do it behind our backs and get hurt in the process;

2. Be unaware of how to manage risk in their future lives and again get hurt.

If you want to learn more you might borrow this book from the library...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dont-play-guns-here-Superhero/dp/0335210899/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279446885&sr=1-1

[Hebs]

thanks for the link Sarah x

[Dare4Distance]

i actually find it fascinting that people say no to guns but dont mind swords (big knives really) and we have a bigger probalem in this country with knife crime than gun crime

and you said you'd let kids play with a toy knife and pretend to stab each other?

Sword fights are different. How often do you see on the news about someone being killed with a sword? Yes, it happens now and then but not often. It's constantly on the news about someone being stabbed with a knife or shot with a gun.

2 children with a toy sword each, having a sword fight is one thing. A child with a toy knife walking up to another child and saying I'm going to kill you is something totally different. How can you not see that?

Children under a certain age don't realise that dead means dead. That killing someone means they are gone, forever. They just say it without knowing what it means. That's wrong.

[wendywu]

[

QUOTE=Dare4Distance;747284]Exactly. You can join the army for a week and then leave. Are you still a hero? No.

[/QUOTE]


Now your splitting hairs, you didnt say ....if you join the army and decide its not the job for you and then leave. THAT is a totally different thing.

Anyone who takes a job in this world that places them in danger is a Hero and the world is a better place for having them in it.

They are better people than i am and braver than i will ever be.

What is lacking in life today that was around years ago is discipline, their is no deterrent for anything.

Our whole sick attitude in this country today was summed up by the Face Book page tribute to Moat and now they have a song praising him.

Oh yes those people, the ordinary people, the back bone of Great Britian, the non Heros. Those people who are eroding away anything that remotely resembles a safe and fulfilling future for your and mine children and grand children.

Well i for one know who i will take my hat off to

[auntym]

i actually find it fascinting that people say no to guns but dont mind swords (big knives really) and we have a bigger probalem in this country with knife crime than gun crime

Hebs I dont hon. I said if they come in playing cowboys with guns then im ok with that. I also said the reason I sent a gun home due to way it was played with, in the same respect if my kids played with my toy knight swords but then started trying to stab necks and play that way I would also remove and speak about how we play.
Thats not what meant hon at all.
Im all for imaginative play, love the whole pirate, cowboy, indian, stake out games.
I have water pistols

[wendywu]

Whats a stake out game ?

I dont know that one