Let the Boys Play!!!

[mwcooke]

So, im walking through Rural King and having a great day. As I am walking past the toy section, a little boy (probably 6 years old) jumps out with a toy gun and "shoots" me. Being in a great mood, and not wanting to dissapoint the little guy, I dropped to my knees clinching my "wound" and I slowly "died". As I stood back up to congratulate the young man on his perfect shot, his Dad came running over and ripped the gun out of his hands. He then proceeded to yell at the young man for pointing a gun at a person, and gave him a swat on the butt. I also heard on the Glenn Beck program yesterday that two 6 year old boys in Baltimore were suspended from school becuase while playing cops and robbers during recess, they were prending their fingers were guns. COME ONE PEOPLE! I have 3 young kids myself, and I am pro gun safety in every aspect of the word. My oldest (4 year old son) loves to look at the guns, and help me clean them. We always practice gun safety and he takes it very seriously. But, when it comes to his toy guns, you better believe I let him shoot me. What fun are toy guns to little boys if they cant play cops and robbers, or cowboys and indians, or army? The only rule we have about playing with the toy guns, is you can't point them in peoples faces. My sons absolutley love to play war with me. They always seem to win, and they love when daddy gets shot and dies. Does this make me a bad father? Does this desensitize my children into thinking that violence is fun and okay? NO! This is how boys have been playing since the 1800's.

 

[SSGSAD]

HECK, NO !!!!! It makes you, a GREAT FATHER, as far as I am concerned !!!!!

 

[Indy 1911]

And the girls too. I have only daughters. 17 and 18 and you can bet the got their Daisy Red Riders for Christmas many years ago.

 

[mbills2223]

 

[jaybird_123]

As long as they can seperate toy guns from real guns, and know the differance between play dead and real dead, there is no problem.

 

[Speedgelb986S]

I am convinced that I would not be nearly as good a shot as I am today if it weren't for all the time I spent lining up a proper sight picture on my toy handguns and rifles in the 1970's and '80's. Most kids I know will never get that head start.

 

[ultra...good]

It is wrong to point your finger at someone and pretend to shoot them.
It is OK to play video games where the objective is to kill people.
It is OK to watch movies where killing is glorified.
It is OK to listen to rap where "i am gonna smack my b--ches or pop a cap in your ..."

Am I the only one confused by this?

And, not that I recommend this, but what if someone turned that father in for child abuse? Beating his son, especially out in public? The trauma that the OP was exposed to by having to witness this cruel and unusual act of a father that is not sensitive to his sons need to actually have a pair. (not sure if that should have been in purple)

 

[IndyDave1776]

It is wrong to point your finger at someone and pretend to shoot them.
It is OK to play video games where the objective is to kill people.
It is OK to watch movies where killing is glorified.
It is OK to listen to rap where "i am gonna smack my b--ches or pop a cap in your ..."

Am I the only one confused by this?

And, not that I recommend this, but what if someone turned that father in for child abuse? Beating his son, especially out in public? The trauma that the OP was exposed to by having to witness this cruel and unusual act of a father that is not sensitive to his sons need to actually have a pair. (not sure if that should have been in purple)

Not really confusing, it is just a matter of recognizing insanity when you see/hear it. That said, you are absolutely right about the nonsensical nature of the assorted behaviors you mentioned.

 

[gloxrok]

wow, what are we becoming. heck, when i was a kid everything was a gun. stick? no, m16. legos? nope, handgun. i even drug an exhaust system home, in first grade, so i could make it my bazooka!

 

[6mm Shoot]

When I was a child one Christmas I got a GI Joe Bazooka. It was the best gift I had ever gotten at that point. I have to say they hit the mark that Christmas. I wander what would be said about that toy today. It had little plastic shells that were fired out of it by a spring.

 

[Steve B]

It is wrong to point your finger at someone and pretend to shoot them.
It is OK to play video games where the objective is to kill people.
It is OK to watch movies where killing is glorified.
It is OK to listen to rap where "i am gonna smack my b--ches or pop a cap in your ..."

Am I the only one confused by this?

And, not that I recommend this, but what if someone turned that father in for child abuse? Beating his son, especially out in public? The trauma that the OP was exposed to by having to witness this cruel and unusual act of a father that is not sensitive to his sons need to actually have a pair. (not sure if that should have been in purple)

It's also wrong to walk down the street in your underwear but fine to walk down the street with your pants around your knees with your underwear in plain site.
Letting kids play and use their imagination is now a bad thing. Society makes little sense these days.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

If you make things taboo, then curiosity will win.

 

[elaw555]

Violence isn't the problem. We have in our society a morality problem. I spend many days with violent people around me because they are prepared to be violent with any person who tries to do them harm. We all (hopefully) continually are prepared to protect ourselves and others from evil and we plan to achieve that aim through incredible violence. The difference is one of morality. Training to defeat evil will never lead a person to commit evil acts upon other innocent people. But evil people will commit evil acts with any number of implements available to them. We need to be wary of evil and encourage our sons and daughters to recognize evil and be prepared to face it. Playing Call of Duty, Halo, MOH, cops and robbers, army, or whatever else does not encourage evil.

 

[toddcraft33]

The problem is our country has become too PC. We all grew up pretending to be Gi Joe, and now kids are acting like Spongebob. People are trying to feminize litte boys, and we are no longer making MEN.

 

[dab77]

The problem is not kids and toy guns, its parents not teaching their kids gun safety and proper respect for real guns. I grew up playing army & çoboys but when I got my first Daisy I new the difference. My Dad & Grandpa made sure I did!

 

[whackmaster66]

My boy is almost 2 and we do the samething... I see no problem with it at all..

 

[monitor51]

Had the boy been using a double barrel shot gun I'm sure the other dad would have approved. It does have the government stamp of approval ya know.

 

[redlegrod]

It all boils down to the pussification of America! It makes our boys grow up to be mindless, docile little sheep!

 

[Sgtusmc]

Playing is what kids need to do for healthy development. It is the parents job to keep tabs on their kids psychologically to avoid becoming the adam lanza type with a secretive lust for killing. My boys shoot each other all the time and switch off on whos the good guy and whos the bad guy. My younger son gets upset when his older brother and friends make him play bad guy alot. Thats a good psychological sign to note.

When my older son was heavily into Star Wars, his favorite character for the longest time was Anakin. He knew that Anakin becomes Darth Vader. Several times we talked about what the whole series was really about, good vs evil. What is gained by being good or evil and how your choices affect everyone else. It was during one of these conversations at 6 yrs old when he told me, "Dad, I know none of its real, I know the difference between fake and real, I just like how Anakin dresses...". A huge sigh of relief let out as I knew we were on the right track.

Parents just need to smartly be involved and actually give a **** about how their children are constantly developing.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

My son and I play with Nerf guns and water guns all the time. He also has his own Rascal .22 rifle. He's yet to confuse a toy gun and a real gun, or confuse the role of each.