Boys playing with toy guns

[Ouluckyduck]

harmless or not? What rules apply in your house? Will you even allow them, if not, why not, what are your concerns?

Six year old ds loves guns and playing cowboys, and I struggle to see the harm. Interestingly the people I mix with in the uk don't seem yo mind, but back home in Germany people are horrified.

At my sons playgroup they werent allowed guns but made them out of Lego and stickle bricks so I think that despite the ban the boys got around it! My DS now 14 goes to seacadets where they shoot and some of the best shooters are the girl cadets!

Hmm.

We have an absolute 'no toy gun' policy in our house. This not because I think my sons will turn into gun toting mad men when they grow up, but because guns are horrible. I hate them. I think it's a horrible toy to give a child to get their imaginative play going.

I will also not allow shoot em up computer games because they are horrible too.

How do you police that when they play at friends' houses flag?

I tried to avoid toy guns with my pfb just because it seemed so aggressive and unnecessary, this was right up until he was old enough to try to build them out of lego, so twas a pointless exercise
Now I have 3 DC they play with pretty much anything....

No toy guns for DD, when she is old enough she will be taught how to use a real gun safely and responsibly.

Guns are not, and never will be "toys" in our household. They are a tool for shooting and killing animals, or to practice shooting and killing animals.

You would have trouble killing anything with a Nerf bullet. They are made of foam.

Does playing with something give a child a perspective? Kids can't escape from fighting/guns/conflict unless they NEVER watch TV, including the news and never see any newspapers.

But, it is an individual choice. My nephews are NOT allowed to play with guns - it does make it tricky when they get together with my kids who are allowed free play (and they sometimes choose to play with guns) BUT listenning to their play - with guns/weapons - there is also a lot of creative discussion about rules and fair play and team work and generally NOT about killing or maiming people.

My cousins - both boys were never allowed guns and just fashionned them out of whatever was to hand. I have fond memories of them throwing lego petrol bombs up and down the hallway after seeing some rioting on the news...

Or play gun games on the computer...

I hate guns. So DS makes them, like everyone else said...he chews them out of toast, makes Lego ones etc. Both DS and dd have wooden swords and shields though, DS has a full suit of armour and they love water pistols...I don't think it can be stopped, for boys or girls.

I played with a pellet gun growing up, only shooting cans in the back garden and I have managed to never shoot anyone.....ever!

I'm really surprised. I though the mumsnet consensus would be "guns are no good" for sure! As a naive mother to a baby boy I thought no guns for my son, but as other have said he just improvises now and i don't really mind. He started picking up sticks and swishing then around before he could even talk, which was a nightmare and i did police it but I did start to think it must be some kind of primeval instinct as i don't think he'd seen it anywhere as he was so young.

there is no mumsnet consensus, how could there be when we are by definition separate individuals.

I don't buy guns for my sons but I don't care if they play with them. I played with them, as has every generation of children since guns were invented. It has no bearing on their capacity for grown up violence.

When my ds was little there was some research published that children allowed to play with toy guns etc were far less aggressive than those not. It was a way of releasing aggression in a harmless way.
I know boys who were banned from toy guns just use toy hairdriers instead.

Yes, my two play with guns, sticks, spears and swords (all toys or bits of wood).

I played with toy guns when I was young and I haven't turned into some kind of serial killer, so I think it's okay.

Mumsnet consensus!!!!!

That will be a cold day in hell.

Sparkling - with great difficulty! I'm not a total spoil sport, we went to a friends house last week and they had a box of water pistols in the garden. I just let them get on with it. But I won't buy them for my kids because I really do hate them.

flag that's fair enough.

Well I'm probably not the best person to comment as DPs 12yo has a shotgun. A real one. As does DP and his brother.

Personally I think DPs son is very mature with it, he has understood the way to behave around them since he started shooting age 7.

I just can't bring myself to buy either of my sons an actual replica gun toy. It just doesn't sit well with me.
They have both had light sabers and super soakers. Neither have asked for a toy gun so it's not really been an issue.

DS1 (13) has spent many hours whittling down a piece of wood to make a lovely dagger and he's been rifle shooting with Scouts.

We don't have a games console so his time spent murdering other people in computer game land is limited.

DS is only 3 (and DD 8months but same thing applies) and at the moment no guns of any sort in our house. This isn't difficult to enforce as he's not interested yet. I'm basically buying myself time to work out what the "rules" are. I don't want him (or any of us) to miss out on the fun of water pistols, nerf guns aren't really any different from playing tag with balls BUT guns make me very uncomfortable and as we now live in America I'm constantly aware of gun ownership etc.

My DB is in the army and I'm also skirting round that issue with DS. I hate seeing older children in the playground using guns (toys or just their fingers/hands) in a very violent way, which just seems a world away from the giggles of water pistols and I know they are reenacting violent shoot-Em-up video games. But also aware I'm being hypocritical so just hoping DS won't display an interest until I've figured out how to clearly differentiate the intent behind gun use and am able to explain this clearly to him.

I basically don't like play that intentionally hurts someone else, this includes swords and knives and light sabers. He is allowed to fight monster and dragons and dinosaurs though...

My children (boys and girls) love playing with guns and I see no harm in it.

Ok. Maybe consensus is the completely wrong word but with these kinds of things the argument generally falls more on one side than the other. I thougt in this case it would be anti toy guns.

I have 2 dds and have no problems with guns.Its using items as swords that drives me nuts. Dd gets carried away when only playing always think she will fall and have an eye out.

I would always choose guns over wrestling cause I cant stand the screaming its my biggest pet our at my house.

biggest pet hate not pet!