Help explaining guns to my 3 yr old

[rw02kr43]

This past week my son has decided that everything is a gun and he's shooting everything. At his age I'm not terribly worried. But I was wondering about any advice. We've explained that guns aren't toys and he shouldn't be shooting people or other things with his pretend guns. And I understand that he's 3, so the concept doesn't really make any sense to him. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to handle it.

Thank you
Jason

 

[phylodog]

Worry about how he treats and respects others, it's not about the gun. Once he's old enough to understand the difference between a real gun and a toy gun you can begin teaching him firearms safety. I'd venture to guess most of us had toy guns as kids and "shot" everything under the sun with them, we also had a different appreciation for human life and respecting others (to include those we disagree with) than what many are taught today.

 

[d.kaufman]

You can also contact the Nra and ask them to send you the Eddie the Eagle program. Never to early to start in my opinion.

 

[snapping turtle]

I had girls so they never played like little boys. No cops and robbers no cowboys and indians.
We went with the if you see a gun don’t touch it and tell me or mom.
When they got 8-9 ish they got to go shooting.
Now they are 19 and 14 and the oldest can load unload everything i own. The youngest never has shown much of an interest.


It worked for us

 

[dprimm]

My son is 3 and in the same stage. He can only shoot targets and no guns at the dinner table.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Safe things he can play ballistics are great. Have him throw balls into buckets too. Don’t point guns at people. Take Guns away if he breaks rules. Can always insist on safety glasses st his age too. Then he’ll just think it’s Natural

 

[SMiller]

Simple solution...


https://youtu.be/rSiKj6ymhvA

 

[Tactically Fat]

We had a "don't shoot your sister at the dinner table" moment a few years ago...

Now, generally, it's a "Don't point at/shoot at people" with their nerf guns...

Little "rules" repeated over and over WILL become ingrained eventually!

 

[rw02kr43]

so far, he doesn't have any guns. He just uses fingers. For a while he was shooting tacos at people. That was weird, but whatever. But lately it's gotten a bit more than that. We'll try some of the things mentioned above and see how it goes.

Jason

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Worry about how he treats and respects others, it's not about the gun. Once he's old enough to understand the difference between a real gun and a toy gun you can begin teaching him firearms safety. I'd venture to guess most of us had toy guns as kids and "shot" everything under the sun with them, we also had a different appreciation for human life and respecting others (to include those we disagree with) than what many are taught today.

I got one of these when I was about 5 or 6.

Mom was the target of many ambushes.