5 year old playing with guns

[westbest]

I am interested in views on this. My DH bought our DS a toy cowboy gun and a nerf gun. I have always said that I didnt want to have 'toy' guns in the house & we had a big row about it.

Now 2 different people (childminder and playdate parent) have commented that DS talks about guns a lot. I am very cross about it as I now feel we have to undo this & I have confiscated them and am gently encouraging other interests.

DH thinks I am making a fuss and that all little boys play with guns. Am interested in views on this as I dont think I am being unreasonable.

Reading this thread thinking 'Glad i had girls, not interested in guns', as gun play is something i'm a bit hmmm about. (my SIL has banned toy guns, but nephew, 5, was running about at MILs with a lego one when we were all there at the weekend. SIL was )

Then i remembered my youngest DD, at about 5, took one her older sister's male brat dolls, shaved his head, stripped him, bound his ankles and tied his hands with wire behind his back, rubbed soap round his mouth and left him out on the slopping roof out side her window Where the HELL did that come from?!

We laugh about it now, (she's 15) .... but i'm still

See I do think it's innate in lots of boys. Maybe some girls but mainly boys. I really don't think my ds has been exposed to anything that could have pushed him into liking fighting and guns, and yet all he wants to do is play fight and shoot and wield a sword.

He's been exposed to no violence, no aggression and yet the end result is one of the most aggressive children I've ever encountered. That isn't quite the right way of putting it... it's not mean spiteful nasty really want to hurt you aggression, it's play fighting wanting physical play. He's not mean or unkind, he's very gentle with smaller children and animals but with grown ups and especially with his dad he wants to play fight. We haven't encouraged it, in fact we try to distract but what he returns to again and again is wanting to jump on us, wanting to battle and shooting at us.

Normal IMO.

You need rules like not pointing them at close distance to someone or hitting people with them. I think that guns are an extension of the good vs evil games that children seem to enjoy. Goodies often use weapons to suppress/arrest/stop the bad guys.