It was reported in the Orange County Register this week that Disneyland has resumed selling toy guns after a nine-year hiatus. Though the toy guns are green and orange to prevent confusion with real guns, some parents still don't allow their children to play with toy guns.
I learned to shoot real guns at paper targets when I was about 1o years old, but marksmanship was only a small part of the lesson. I learned to handle guns safely and I learned that I was never to touch the gun cabinet, where guns and ammunition were kept separate under lock and key, unless my dad was supervising. My husband and I have even gone target shooting on date night. It's really fun when it's done safely.
I don't allow my sons (ages 2 and 5) to play with toy guns, but I do plan to teach them to shoot (again, at paper targets in a shooting range) when they are older. We don't have real guns (or even NERF blasters) in the house and I silently confiscated the tiny toy gun from the Playmobil Puppet Theater toy I recently reviewed.
I don't allow them to see TV or video games that represent any violence at all, let alone gun play. Still, I can't give my older child a banana for his snack without him pretending it's a gun. Is it a boy thing? It seems to be in his DNA.
Where are you on the toy-gun issue? Are we a bunch of overprotective ninnies who should loosen our grip, educate kids about gun safety and let them play with their toys in peace? Maybe parents today are just adjusting their standards to protect their children in an increasingly dangerous world.
I'd love to hear what you think. How do you feel about children playing with toy guns?
I never let my eldest son see TV until he started with Barney around 2, and I definitely had no “guns” around. However, when he was around 2 1/2 yrs old every stick he picked up became a gun of sorts. I used to try to stop him, but that just increased his persistence and activity.
He is now 10 1/2 and there are cap guns, nerf guns, and gun play video games (sans blood) everywhere. We talk about gun behavior and require that gun play NEVER point at a face, and preferably not a person. I would like to take him to a gun range for target practice, but haven’t. I think the training would help him realize that there is appropriate places and times. He has fired a real gun at a friends farm with all dad’s around. He loved it.
Neighbor boys have the air guns and so he is adamantly requesting one. We have said not till he is 12.
I believe that learning about guns and gun safety is a life skill like defensive driving, swimming, and financial management. I taught my offspring that a gun is like any tool that if misused it can be a very dangerous. The short fall seems to be that too many are not taught that the dangers shown in TV, movies, and games are not real. In the real world the damage can be forever. Toy guns seem to be a fact of life for children whether its a bannana, a stick, or a pointed finger. I suggest parents use these opportunities to teach the difference between play and possibly dangerous situations.