Post by RiverValleyMama on Apr 29, 2008 22:00:43 GMT -5
I'm curious on other parents' takes on this topic. I was raised to not play guns because guns are not toys and shouldn't be thought of as such, even just pretend. Of course there was the surprisingly not confusing squirt gun play. The reason this wasn't confusing I think is because I could only play with squirt guns that didn't look at all like real guns. We haven't really encountered this issue yet but I see it approaching so that's why it's on my mind. We're hunters and we do have guns in the house. We are very firearm safety conscience but I still believe that I will adopt my parents' rule. Something to ponder I guess, I'd still like to hear what others have to say.
Then there's the other types of violent pretending. At the park today there was a group of older kids (probably around 8-10 yrs old) unattended. They started off by playing hide and seek and then progressed to tag. Then tag progressed to stick tag? Everyone had a giant stick that they chased after another kid with until they got close enough to whack them with it. Harry thought this was wonderful and wanted in on the action! I distracted him, said that we do not hit with sticks and moved him along to another area of the park. Then it seemed the other kids followed (not really- they just wound up where we wound up eventually). Here they decided to make "sand bombs" in the sand box and throw them at the other kids. Again, Harry thought this looked like so much fun, he just had to get in there and join in. And again, I distracted him, told him that we don't throw sand (something I've already been trying to imprint on him- what kid doesn't want to throw sand?) and moved him on to another area. I fought with myself on both occasions. I wanted to tell these children that we don't hit, especially with sticks and that we don't throw sand, at least not at another person. But I knew this wasn't my place, so I bit my tongue. Here comes the big question.........Who's place is it when the kids are unattended? As far as I'm concerned, this is bad behavior and I don't want my kid to see this example.
Then there's the other types of violent pretending. At the park today there was a group of older kids (probably around 8-10 yrs old) unattended. They started off by playing hide and seek and then progressed to tag. Then tag progressed to stick tag? Everyone had a giant stick that they chased after another kid with until they got close enough to whack them with it. Harry thought this was wonderful and wanted in on the action! I distracted him, said that we do not hit with sticks and moved him along to another area of the park. Then it seemed the other kids followed (not really- they just wound up where we wound up eventually). Here they decided to make "sand bombs" in the sand box and throw them at the other kids. Again, Harry thought this looked like so much fun, he just had to get in there and join in. And again, I distracted him, told him that we don't throw sand (something I've already been trying to imprint on him- what kid doesn't want to throw sand?) and moved him on to another area. I fought with myself on both occasions. I wanted to tell these children that we don't hit, especially with sticks and that we don't throw sand, at least not at another person. But I knew this wasn't my place, so I bit my tongue. Here comes the big question.........Who's place is it when the kids are unattended? As far as I'm concerned, this is bad behavior and I don't want my kid to see this example.