Giving toy guns as gifts

[juneau]

I'm not sure whether I'm being unreasonable or whether others feel like this.

DS was 7 earlier this month and he had a party which his school friends came to and he was given three toy guns as gifts. Now I know it's up to people what they give and that as the recipient's parent I don't get a say, and I should be grateful that these DC came to his party and brought him a gift (and I am), but I would never give a gun as a gift. I think it's really inappropriate and I'm very uncomfortable with having even toy guns in my house. Seeing my 7-year-old running around with a gun (albeit a plastic one), and shooting at us and laughing is horrible. And of course he loves them and he was given them and if I took them away then I'd be the bad guy

Crikey, really? What do you think is going to happen? Kids learn by playing around with ideas of goodies/baddies.

But yes I also let my toddler eat biscuits at playgroups so yes I think we really do .

poca it’s the ‘do no harm’ thing, isn’t it? I don’t want my kids doing anything on purpose to upset or hurt someone else. Kids learn by conversation too.

Wow.

Would you not let them play cops and robbers then? Wink murder? When I've taught reception, we've dressed up as Burglar Bill. We've made wanted posters for Black Bart and role-played pillaging and taking over ships. We've been Roman gladiators and graffiti artists and Boudicca. My Year 6 class love a full court trial we do every year where they chop a fake head from Henry VIII's wife.

It's learning, knowledge. It happened. It really, truly doesn't mean they're going to be murderers, mass killers or robbers. I really don't understand this mindset, I'm afraid. I teach children to be respectful, kind, thoughtful people. I also teach them that shit happens which is why it's so important to be decent.

But they're not hurting someone, they're playing pretend.

Ah we're going round in circles now and seem to be the only people on the thread so I'll leave it there.

My Year 6 class love a full court trial we do every year where they chop a fake head from Henry VIII's wife.

Fucking hell. I would not be happy with that. Yes, it happened - Henry VIII was a mass murder, that’s not something to enjoy. Are you teaching currently in the UK?

They’re pretending to hurt someone.

Yes I am. I actually did that lesson for an inspection, so it was observed by inspectors, the head and a governor. It went down very well indeed, especially the iMovie horror trailer the children made to open the scene.

We do it every year. The parents come to watch and love it, as do the children.

Do you ban Horrible Histories then, too? They re-enact everything like that.

Which wife were you glorifying the murder of?

Anne Boleyn of course. The children in court choose whether she is to be beheaded or not. I've never had a class yet that have chosen to save her.

You call bullshit? Um, OK then. If it makes you feel better. The hundreds of photos and videos I have kind of prove otherwise though. And the polystyrene head that sits on a shelf in my classroom. Anne enjoys watching over my class.

What did she do wrong that she didn’t deserve to be saved?

Are you serious? This is complete lunacy - a fake execution in Britain in 2018? Bullshit.

I got a (real, metal) air pistol for my 10th birthday. Previously I’d had an alieny light up one that made pew-pew noises and my brother had a wooden replica Wild West rifle.

The worst I’ve ever hurt another human being was when I unintentionally drunkenly kicked my male housemate in the crotch at uni (we were trying to do karate).

Pumper, I can tell you're one of "those parents". If you want to call bullshit on a lesson I do every single year, that's your prerogative. I don't need to attempt to prove it to a random Internet person.

You'd absolutely hate my rainforest lesson then. We spend weeks building the most beautiful rainforest full of handmade flowers, stuffed animals, art, imagery, poems and all sorts. Then one evening, I completely trash it. Unstuff the animals, rip, shred and even burn bits. It's a very strong lesson. They love it.

I've won awards for my teaching. I'm so utterly glad your child isn't in my class.

I cant cope wish y'd been at my dcs school-sounds like u really bring history alive (excuse pun). The worst thing they ever did was play the war sirens-scared the shit out of most of the kids and they didn't learn anything. If u can get them engaged the way u r then thats great

Thanks Verbena! Love bringing anything alive, especially history. Children learn so much when they are interested and engaged. We also build a cardboard street and burn it down when we do the Great Fire of London which is really popular. I have children coming back years later to visit and they remember my lessons with such enthusiasm, it's wonderful.

That just sounds scary! I remember reading in the news, a teacher tried to do a lesson where they convinced the children we were at war and they had to be evacuated immediately. They even took them to a train station! I love my memorable lessons, but I'm careful to tailor them to particular children's needs and I don't ever scare them like that. I thought it was a clever idea, but not suitable for that age.

If I tried that with my current Year 6s, they'd be saying, "Yeah right, Mrs Cantcope, as if you'd be allowed to do that to us"

Probably best you don’t - I work in Primary School environments and have two small children. I’ve tried my best to show you my point of view but you’re so determined that your way - murder, destruction and guns - is right, I’m not sure we’ll ever agree. Good luck to you. May we never meet.

Hi Everyone, forgive the interruption but we just wanted to explain how difficult it is to keep threads like this open if things derail into personal insults and attacks.

A late night plea for peace and calm - whatever makes you happy.

I wish MNHQ could just delete the portion of my comment where I quoted Pumper, rather than the whole thing.

The part where I was responding to someone else has now been lost. Annoying.

Wow, cannot believe people still buy them as gifts, My parents got out my old toys for our kids but claimed that Starsky and Hutch were holding sticks not guns. We did not turn into gangsters but they are making sure the grand kids do not.

The bit where you corrected my spelling knowing I’m not a native English speaker?

Corrected your spelling?!

You said I was a shit teacher.

I said you misspelled awesome.

It was a joke. Bloody hell