Do you let your dc have toy weapons?

[muldersspeedos]

I've always been against guns in particular and ds would like a nerf gun. I've explained to him that he won't be getting one but I wondered what others think about weapons as toys?

The older 2 didn't but improvised whenever they were playing out with other children, as did the other children.

Younger 2 do have them (big age gap , older 2 are now adults) youngest isn't at all interested, older one occasionally plays with them

Saying that my eldest had action men and they all had guns so in that respect he was playing with them.

I don't think ds2 would have bothered making guns out of things if it wasn't for all the other boys playing out doing it.

I gave up on 'No guns for my little boy' when he made a gun out of every stick he found and every educational toy I bought. I had cap guns and spud guns as a child and grew up to be a tree-hugging, leftie vegetarian. My db had the same toys and went into the military.

Yes. My daughter has a nerf gun. I think we have a plastic sword somewhere also and a plastic archery set. We are pacifists in real life but I don't get het up about play fighting/toy weapons.

If I lived in a country like the US though, where people kept real guns though I would not let my children play with toy guns. Partly because I would worry that they could one day mistake a real gun for a toy gun and partly because the fear/threat of school shootings etc is real there so it would be really insensitive to have any sort of imitation of a fire-arm around. I think that because we are British and we don't, fotlr the most part, have to worry about real guns I tend to see toy guns as on the same level as a toy bow and arrow.

You can not give them or regift them as much as you want.
Kids will turn anything into a bloody gun or a sword the minute your back is turned.

I read an interesting article on child development and violent reenactment type play. It basically said that the moralistic part of your child's brain works when they act out this type of play it's about 'good vs evil' and 'right and wrong' it's a really important part of play and kids are hard wired to do it so just will anyway.

Ping pong ball guns are great also. They are safe and fun. In the States, one can buy Nerf type guns that shoot mini marshmallows . Those are terrible because they encourage ants

DD had a pirate set with a really old fashion pistol, swords, bow and arrow, water pistols and lightsabers.

I know she played with nerf guns at a friend's house.

She had strict rules about only using certain ones outside, never to point to people or animals and if having a sword fight with friends there were rules how and where to hit.

When she was 11 she learned to shoot with an air rifle as part of her Scouting. They have strict rules about it and she was taught by qualified teachers. She attended a shooting competition twice, the second time also firing a small bore rifle.

For me swords (fencing) and shooting are sport disciplines, archery as well, there are less international rules though.

The danger is not with a toy gun, the danger is wrong play with a toy gun. DD goes paintballing in 2 weeks and plans laser shoot with a friend soon. None of them are violent teens. If DD had shown any signs of not. taking it seriously then we wouldn't have allowed any of this.

@Parker231 my grandparents were under German occupation, too. One went to the shooting range as a hobby in later life, the other allowed her kids to play with toy guns.

I met my DH at LARP so it would be highly hypocritical of us to forbid toy swords now...

Nerf guns are brightly coloured so I don't mind. If DS showed the slightest interest in painting his nerf black, it would be binned immediately.

Err... @Bananablossom, any shotgun used for clay pigeon is completely 'real'. At close range it can blow a hole the size of your fist through inch thick steel. Please don't think of it as a toy!

"I can't see how depriving them of popular toys will help their development"

What did i just read?? So your saying that kids need to pretend to shoot each other and that will help them develop?

I remember one gun obsessed kid in my kids daycare. Barely 4. And running around saying : im gonna gonna shoot you! Bam! Your dead!

Thats not normal.

And it def not the same as " a pillow fight " as some pp mentioned.

@MintJulia

Nerf guns are brightly coloured so I don't mind. If DS showed the slightest interest in painting his nerf black, it would be binned immediately.

Err... @Bananablossom, any shotgun used for clay pigeon is completely 'real'. At close range it can blow a hole the size of your fist through inch thick steel. Please don't think of it as a toy!

Oh FFS how condescending

You know what I meant

I think I grew up with a fear of weapons especially guns and knives. I still feel funny about knives if they are bigger than a small vegetable knife.
He has a plastic pirate sword bought for fancy dress at school (not by me) I'm not keen and he is a whacker and uses anything and everything to whack anything and everything despite lots of talks and interventions about this. I just hope he grows out of it. And soon.

@reluctantbrit

DD had a pirate set with a really old fashion pistol, swords, bow and arrow, water pistols and lightsabers.

I know she played with nerf guns at a friend's house.

She had strict rules about only using certain ones outside, never to point to people or animals and if having a sword fight with friends there were rules how and where to hit.

When she was 11 she learned to shoot with an air rifle as part of her Scouting. They have strict rules about it and she was taught by qualified teachers. She attended a shooting competition twice, the second time also firing a small bore rifle.

For me swords (fencing) and shooting are sport disciplines, archery as well, there are less international rules though.

The danger is not with a toy gun, the danger is wrong play with a toy gun. DD goes paintballing in 2 weeks and plans laser shoot with a friend soon. None of them are violent teens. If DD had shown any signs of not. taking it seriously then we wouldn't have allowed any of this.

Slight drift….. regarding DD going paintballing soon - look into the price structure.

Some that are aimed at younger players (eg low impact 0.50”) have a fixed day price
So zero worry there

The traditional pricing of ‘rental’ paintball however is on a per ball rate. A particular National company that sells tickets in shopping centres etc has the bad habit of only the basic entry price (eg £6.99 for a days paintball and failing to mention small print of 100 balls only that last 5 minutes)
On the day you buy paintballs as required, and if bought 100 at a time adds up to a lot.
There will be better prices for buying more at once, or potentially pre booking extra in advance

If you know which company she’s going with & what sort of booking it is I can give some pointers and a fair budget for the day

Every child is different, but ‘banning’ guns can be counter productive

I’ve known only one mother who banned them, but they all made Lego guns - often secretly
When she gave up the ‘ban’ the mystery value was gone and they still played with some, but weren’t overly excited by them

I grew up with guns around as I’m an army child, and I work in the MoD so other than current home working I would see them around

There is some value to ‘playing’ along with establishing values - and safety

I like to shoot, have done some target shooting and I’m a paintballer
This comes with context - I don’t want to kill anything, I enjoy the adrenaline when playing
(I also have been an event photographer and still got the adrenaline immersing myself in a game seeking the best photos and getting shot in the crossfire)
It’s fun to play safely, and knowing that you’re going to socialise with the people your playing alongside
I encourage others to play and to respect guns whether toys or not

In games etc context is key

Certainly 18 games aren’t suitable for children, but what is or isn’t in a particular game matters

Many years ago I was asked about Grand Theft Auto. Probably GTA3
It was an absolute no from me, but a friend let her son play because he told her that he doesn’t play the story line, just the ‘open play’ driving around

So he was - stealing and driving cars, running people over, gunning down random pedestrians, picking up prostitutes then killing them afterwards for their money

If he played the storyline then he would be an undercover policeman infiltrating a gang, thus commiting car theft and drive by shootings on his way to catch Mr Big. The prostitution element of the story was to look after his bosses girlfriend, taking her to the clinic & ‘customers’ making sure she was on time and protected
Still not suitable for kids - but if they played the story they had some context that people were people

My ds built a gun out of Lego when he didn’t have one.

It’s normal for kids to have nerf guns. They don’t associate them with killing people. It’s just fun to shoot targets.

I think they're fine and they are a lot of fun (for adults too!) and don't hurt. Like water pistols they fall squarely within the "toy" category in my thinking.

They are so far removed from what an actual gun looks like and they fire harmless bright orange foam.

I wouldn't allow BB guns or anything that properly mimics a real weapon.

@muldersspeedos

I think I grew up with a fear of weapons especially guns and knives. I still feel funny about knives if they are bigger than a small vegetable knife. He has a plastic pirate sword bought for fancy dress at school (not by me) I'm not keen and he is a whacker and uses anything and everything to whack anything and everything despite lots of talks and interventions about this. I just hope he grows out of it. And soon.

I would buy floppy foam or inflatable swords but not plastic or wooden ones, especially if the kids were like this.

The basic rule is - "are they likely to hurt someone with this?" - if yes, don't give it to them!

My son has a Nerf its fun, he had a few toy bow and arrows when he was little and I have a photo of him when he was about 1 and a half/2 years old running around with my nunchucks.

When I was a kid I loved my toy gun that shot little plastic discs, I especially loved it when I found out it could shoot pennies, I also used to build catapults and mini bows and arrows out of coat hangers, twigs, string, matchsticks, paperclips, hair etc. my mum kept trying to deprive me of materials especially after I made a metal and elastic catapult that could fire a lego brick about 60 feet and was very painful if it hit someone.

kids love that stuff its all good

Of course. I loved toy guns myself, would be mad to deny the same joy to my DC.

@Doggydreaming

Yes. My daughter has a nerf gun. I think we have a plastic sword somewhere also and a plastic archery set. We are pacifists in real life but I don't get het up about play fighting/toy weapons.

If I lived in a country like the US though, where people kept real guns though I would not let my children play with toy guns. Partly because I would worry that they could one day mistake a real gun for a toy gun and partly because the fear/threat of school shootings etc is real there so it would be really insensitive to have any sort of imitation of a fire-arm around. I think that because we are British and we don't, fotlr the most part, have to worry about real guns I tend to see toy guns as on the same level as a toy bow and arrow.

On the contrary, it's useful to have toy guns so you can educate them about the difference between toy and real guns so they know how to recognize a real gun when they accidentally find one.

It's horrifying that this is a skill we have to teach but it's very important.

Nothing insensitive about having toy guns in the house. What's insensitive is people lobbying for relaxed gun laws and keeping real guns where their kids can get them.

My son has a complete arsenal of weapons Nerf guns, rifles, some big machine gun that makes a noise. He'll spend hours dressing up in army gear with his mates or cousins, and recreating some battle or rescue or whatever. Their absolute favourite is setting up a whole camp out in a forest/country park etc and defending it from intruders.
He's a sweet, well-adjusted 9yo, kids have played soldiers since forever, I don't see the problem. Even the Cubs take them air rifle shooting as an activity.

We have a no toy weapons rule here as I just don't feel comfortable with them (I'm not really sure why - and I can't even remember if I played with them as a child). It's been easy for us though as my DC have never shown much interest in them. They do play with nerf guns at their cousins house, which we're fine with, as different houses have different rules.

I think it's absolutely fine to make either choice. I wouldn't judge any parent either way, one thing that works for one family doesn't for another, so I'd do whatever you're comfortable with.

@MrsSkylerWhite

Lime green and orange etc. nerf guns that fire foam darts at targets and wooden knights’ swords, yes. Toys that look like real guns, no.

This. I can’t explain why, but nerf guns are ok.