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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to not want ds to be given this sort of toy?

34 replies

monkeybumsmum · 06/02/2011 17:11

Just been to the equivalent of McDonalds over here (am in Belgium) and he had a 'Magic Box' which comes with a toy. Said 'toy' is a pretend dagger and thigh pouch, with instructions on how to put it on.

Maybe it's just me, but my ds is coming up to 4 years old, and I don't really want him to be playing with things like this! Quick thinking dh told him it was a garden tool so he can't wait to get home from school tomorrow to start digging the garden with it.

(I do have to say that we don't normally go to fast food places, we'd been out and it was on the way home )

So do you think I'm being a bit precious being a little cross about this? Think I've read so many AIBU threads now that I can't quite make up my mind!

OP posts:

altinkum · 06/02/2011 17:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hardandsleazy · 06/02/2011 17:16

Is it not linked to some film or tv prog? There usually seems to be a tie in whenever dd has been there.

And whilst i can see it's not everyones choice most kids improvise like altinkums.

If it bothers you that much couldn't the toy get lost?

Original poster

monkeybumsmum · 06/02/2011 17:19

I think it must be Hardandsleazy, but I don't recognise it... Yes, if I had my way the toy would be making it's way into the bin this evening, but on the way home ds declared it his "favourite toy in the world, ever". I'll give it a few days I think, and wait til he's moved onto something else!

OP posts:

BeatriceLaBranche · 06/02/2011 17:22

Just bin it, he won't remember or care.

pigletmania · 06/02/2011 17:28

Yabu and a bit Pfb, he is 4 years old not 14 months old, you cannot put him in a bubble, at school or nursery he will come into contact with this sort of thing. My dd 3.11 has a pirates outfit which comes with a plastic sword, its no biggy, she waves it around than throws it on the floor.

ChippingInSmellyCheeseFreak · 06/02/2011 17:35

Agree with Piglet.

If he uses it in the garden it will probably break anyway.

Most kids have a pirate set with a sword don't they? Can't see the difference.

MavisEnderby · 06/02/2011 17:36

I'm half and half because I didn't want ds to have any knife/gun/sword type toys but everything from Lego to sticks are now utilised as weapons.I think it is a boy thing.(he is very caring and nurturing of his little sister though).I had to laugh the other week though.ds is 7 and his cousins 8 and 9 and i had them over for a sleepover.As a treat I let them sleep downstairs in a den in the living room and have a feast.At 9 ish I told them it was bedtime and went up myself.After an hour I went down to tell them it was time to sleep,and check they hadn't put anything unsuitable on TV or anything.To my suprise and amusement DN1 was busy playing with dds dollshouse and ds and dn2 were cooking up a pretend meal on dds toy kitchen.I had to laugh and dashed upstairs before they could see me and get embarrased.:o

pigletmania · 06/02/2011 17:42

To take if off him and throw it in the bin as a bit cruel, let him have it he will probably loose interest with it. Just because your ds has that toy does not mean he is going to be an ax murderer or learn how to kill.

Original poster

monkeybumsmum · 06/02/2011 17:43

You're probably right, and I am being too pfb, but to me a pirates sword is different to a dagger. I woudn't mind that so much actually, because then we could play pirates etc, but when I think of a dagger I just imagine people being stabbed and I really don't like it.
I'm probably a bit crazy by trying to separate the two, but there you go

Mavis, love the story about your ds!

OP posts:

pigletmania · 06/02/2011 17:44

What are you going to do hover over him all the time, as i said he might come into contact with one at a friends house, and might be a bit [embarrassed] if you storm up to him and take it off him and demand he should not play with it. Would be a tad helicopter parenting would it not.

TmiEdward · 06/02/2011 17:45

My DS's are mad about castles and knights, so we have quite an armoury here - swords, shields, lances, bows and sucker-arrows.

We won't have guns in the house though.

Maelstrom · 06/02/2011 17:46

I don't like it, but as somebody else already said... if they don't get them, they will construct them themselves. I have seen a child using DS' asthma inhaler and spacer as an intergalactic gun.

It is part of boyhood I think.

Now, I would have preferred a different toy.

Original poster

monkeybumsmum · 06/02/2011 17:46

Piglet, I did say that I would leave it with him until he moves onto the next thing I know it won't turn him into an axe murderer, but I still don't like it.
He's such an innocent little boy, and doesn't play violent games at all. I would like to keep him this way for as long as possible!

OP posts:

onceamai · 06/02/2011 17:47

They will pretend other things are daggers an guns anyway and it gives you opportunity to talk about responsibility and danger.

spamm · 06/02/2011 17:49

I started out like you, and then DS was 4and made a gun out of his morning toast. I have been less concerned since then

Original poster

monkeybumsmum · 06/02/2011 17:50

Btw, perhaps I should have said knife in the op, and not dagger - it is not a swashbuckling sort of dagger at all, more a hunting/stabbing type thing!

OP posts:

mutznutz · 06/02/2011 17:50

It wouldn't bother me...but I just wanted to say PMSL at you feeling the need to justify how often you eat fast food.

It's nowt to do with anyone else

Original poster

monkeybumsmum · 06/02/2011 17:51

spamm

OP posts:

mutznutz · 06/02/2011 17:51

Knives are a very important part of a survival kit. A dagger I can almost understand you being displeased...but not a hunting knife.

littleomar · 06/02/2011 17:52

someone gave my son a plastic dagger that retracts when you "stab" someone. it went straight in the bin. tough.

children not that much older than him carry proper knives and are prepared to use them. the fact that it had cute ickle pirates on it didn't make up for that. and as others have said children will play guns with pretty much anything, they don't need encouragement.

but you bought it for him, so.

pigletmania · 06/02/2011 17:52

They will learn from other children and will use anything else as a sword, knife etc. Just because he has it does not mean he will use it in the way its intended.

slartybartfast · 06/02/2011 17:53

i would be ditto what spamm said. very anti guns and any sort of weapon, but it came naturally to ds - to make a gun out of his toast crust

littleomar · 06/02/2011 17:53

mine used a half-knitted baby blanket as a gun once.

belgo · 06/02/2011 17:54

MBM the toys in 'Quick' are absolute rubbish. Usually I order the children's meal and tell them not to include the toys. Or I tell them to include the boys option (for my two girls), which is generally a bit more interesting then the rubbish they expect girls to want.

So YANBU.

Original poster

monkeybumsmum · 06/02/2011 17:54

littleomar, we did not 'buy' it for him directly - it came with the Happy Meal type thing, and we didn't see what it was until ds had finished his supper and was allowed to open it.

OP posts:

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