Do you allow your child/children to play with toy guns?

[who93]

Hello! My husband and I were talking about child rearing the other night and the issue of play came up. We currently do not have any children, but should the Lord ever bless us with one or more, we like to discuss how we would like to parent them.

Anyway, what my husband and I were wondering is, do you allow your child/children to play with toy guns/weapons?

I am not looking to get into a debate about what I or my husband thinks about the matter. We are just curious as to what other parents do regarding this issue. Thanks in advance for your responses. God bless!

 

[Jilly123]

Before I au paired I didn't really have an opinion. Then I went to au pair for a family who were very strict about not letting their boys play with guns. But no matter how much they tried to stop them, the little boys would still end up playing with "guns" they made from sticks or something else they found in the garden. I think there is a natural instinct in boys to play games that are rough, invlove "heros", and sometimes involve guns. I don't think there is anything wrong with that as long as it is channeled in the right direction. I don't think there is anything wrong with playing things like cops 'n robbers, cowboys and indians etc.

I came across and interesting post on the topic:

http://everything2.com/?node_id=1368482

My 2 year old daughter has a little gun that shoots those darts with the suction thing on the end. She knows that she is never allowed to point it at people. As far as I am concerned I don't think just because kids play with toy guns they are going to be more prone to violence.

That is just my opinion. I'm sure there will be lots of parents who disagree with me.

 

[Gods4me]

i wouldnt let him have toy gun. hubby agrees. our little boy is a copy cat and copyes every little thing so i dont let him watch any fighting on programs either.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

We have squirt guns in the pool.

 

[TCat]

When DS was little I did not want him to play with guns, and of course he used his finger, sticks, stuffed toys, etc to "shoot" at the bad guys.
When we began having water guns for the pool and yard the whole "no gun" issue went out the window, even when I bought squirter things that were not guns/

Now DS is 15, DD is 3 and there are a few squirt guns laying around the house, I think I was being a bit over reactive when DS was little, and DD can play guns if she wants to.

 

[homeofmew]

I think water guns are ok, my brother had those cap gums when we were younger, too much noise. Laser tag items I think are also ok. Just nothing too realistic :O

 

[HeKnowsMyName]

I never thought I would. Was scared that my kids would get the wrong idea. Now I don't think anything of it. DS loves a play gun. We played with guns when I was a kid and I've never harmed anyone. *grin* We don't let our kids watch and violent TV shows.

 

[Birbitt]

No we do not allow our children to play with toy guns or weapons of any kind, because we do not believe in encouraging violence in our children. We encourage our children to play with each other and they may horseplay but they may not hit with sticks, sword fight, play guns ect...

 

[JCFantasy23]

Some water guns and cap guns, although he doesn't play with them much and hasn't for awhle

 

[jgonz]

We don't allow toy guns or squirt guns in our house. The boys especially still make guns out of legos, pieces of wood, and their fingers, but we discourage shooting~ unless they're pretending to go hunting for food.

 

[lucypevensie]

Yes, our son is allowed toy weapons - guns, swords, etc. If he had a serious anger problem or fascination with violence and killing then I'd rethink that decision. But he's a gentle well-behaved kid and I don't foresee him turning into mass-murderer because of a plastic gun in his toybox.

 

[seamonster]

Yes, as long as they don't point it at people.

 

[JCFantasy23]

But the purpose of toys such as water guns is to point it at people, correct? Many boys place cops and robbers or indians and cowboys with guns

 

[GolfingMom]

We have water guns but no other toy gun.
We never taught the kiddo's about shooting...they started that on their own with their fingers, or pencils/stickets, lego's etc.
The rule (other than water gun) is no shooting/pointing at ppl...

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

no problem with toy guns here...

 

[gracepaints]

...

 

[gracepaints]

I plan to buy my kid his own toy arsenal.

I'm mostly kidding, but I have no problem with toy guns. I would prefer water guns, toy rifles, that sort of thing, to a realistic looking handgun though. Toy swords are fine too. We will discourage "I'm going to kill you" type talk while playing with the guns though.

Boy have little warriors in them. Even if you don't give them a toy gun, they are going to use sticks, legos, their own fingers and still PLAY cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, what have you. I think it is part of how they learn.

 

[Neenie1]

We don't own any toy guns/swords etc. It's not something I want my children to do, but if they do end up making guns out of lego, sticks etc. I usually redirect it. My ds has made guns out of lego in the past, and he has some lego items that have guns (say little lego men with guns) which I don't mind about really. In fact I haven't put too much thought into it. He doesn't often have the desire to play with guns anyway. If he did I think I would just redirect it instead of making a big huge issue out of it.

 

[Sign Of The Fish Burger]

Undecided.

 

[Manna]

Anyway, what my husband and I were wondering is, do you allow your child/children to play with toy guns/weapons?

Nope.