Quote: Gun Play

“Some parents say it is toy guns that make boys warlike. But give a boy a rubber duck and he will seize its neck like the butt of a pistol and shout "Bang!"” George F. Will

I was reading about the ways that boys take out aggression and it freaked me out a little. One way that always freaks me out to see little boys playing with guns and shooting at each other. It really is something I am uncomfortable with. As a teacher I have policies dictating that there are no guns allowed in school; this means anything from a real gun to a toy gun to a finger gun to using blocks as guns. No guns or, as is said in my classroom often, “no pistolas”. In the article, a mother asks the author what to do when another mother is critical of her son being allowed to act out aggression using toy guns. The author goes on to say that if you tell the mother you see she is uncomfortable and ask her if she thinks childhood play leads to adult violence, most likely the mother will admit that shooting of any kind makes her uncomfortable. DING DING DING! That’s me. The author goes on to explain that what he knows for “certain” is that there is no research to back up that childhood toy gun play will lead to any adult violence. I’m not really worried about that, actually. I think my fear comes from not being raised around guns and the fact that I have never shot a gun. It also possibly stems from this nightmare I have about having a gun and needing to shoot someone and I can’t figure out how to work the gun. Whatever the reason, the author hit my perspective dead on. It makes ME uncomfortable but why would I project that on my sons? I know that this toy gun play will not make them dangerous, violent individuals. I can’t say I will ever buy my sons toy guns that look like real guns. Water guns might be as much as you get out of me. At least now that I’ve processed the article I won’t get that uneasy feeling in my stomach when I see my son use his fingers as a gun and shoot his little brother. Luckily, we are not to that point yet. Right now I need to focus on teaching Monkey that just because Bubs is crying, he does not need a paci shoved into his mouth.