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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect kids not to play with toy guns at school?

25 replies

8oreighty · 11/02/2010 18:24

My dt are in reception and one boy often brings in a toy pistol...it's a realistic looking cowboy style one, clicks when you pull the trigger etc. and they all play with it in the playground. Not on is it?

OP posts:
BAFE · 11/02/2010 18:27

Someone has to defend this country and the people who live in it. This country is defended by men and women with guns. They learn through play, like playing with dolls helps children learn to deal with babies.

YABU

onagar · 11/02/2010 18:30

I loved playing with guns when I was small. I had lots of them. I've hardly shot anyone since I've grown up.

Kaloki · 11/02/2010 18:39

It's a toy, that's all. It wont kill anyone, and the majority of kids who play with toy guns will not turn out to be violent, and for the ones that do the toy gun will not be the only factor.

Morloth · 11/02/2010 18:39

We had lots of toy weapons and I can usually restrain myself from shooting the general public now on a daily basis - though there are times...

I wouldn't care either way, the presence of the toy gun wouldn't bother me and neither would a "ban" if it was introduced because it bothered someone else.

sarah293 · 11/02/2010 18:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

MadameDefarge · 11/02/2010 18:50

YANBU if the child in question is bringing in a toy from home...as far as I am aware this is generally discouraged in school unless it is for show and tell.

I don't think any primary schools in the UK stock guns as standard toy items, and are certainly not available for general play.

So I think you are making this up.

Original poster
8oreighty · 11/02/2010 19:02

I am not making it up! I am quite shocked the teacher hasn't said anything. THis kid brings in quite a few toys that he seems to be able to play with whenever he wants. Perhaps I only see it out in the morning and when I pick them up. I do understand that toy guns don't lead to adults shooting people, but I just feel like they are a bit young to understand guns...I am american and I hate guns...also been watching too much of The Wire recently. Just don't think I should have to deal with this at school.

OP posts:
Original poster
8oreighty · 11/02/2010 19:04

just read last post...just meant that being american where people have handguns in the house, and lots of people do get shot, I am very anti-gun, don't see the need for a handgun as a toy. Waterpistol or whatever fair enough.

OP posts:
ellaballoo · 11/02/2010 19:06

I think YABU,but appreciate it can be a tricky issue to et your head round.I didn't use to let toys guns in my house until I read this-www.amazon.co.uk/dont-play-guns-here-Superhero/dp/0335210899/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books& qid=1265915121&sr=8-1

rainbowinthesky · 11/02/2010 19:07

I dont have a problem with toy guns etc however I agree that you shouldnt have to deal with this at school.

lou031205 · 11/02/2010 19:07

If not guns, they will use sticks as guns. YABU. It is a toy.

Morloth · 11/02/2010 19:08

Well I don't think you need to be shocked, as you can see from the responses not everyone thinks it is a problem and presumably the teacher is one of those.

If you do think it is a problem then you need to bring it up with the teacher.

GypsyMoth · 11/02/2010 19:10

Pocket toys are allowed at our school

we have been an army family , with the dc dad stood guard on the gate at the garrison....... With a fully loaded gun.

Kids play....pirates, cowboys, Indians or knights..... All armed

generations of kids have played these games....well in this country they do dnyway!!

Yabu

Morloth · 11/02/2010 19:11

And if not sticks, then lego and if no lego, then the wand from another little girl's fairy princess outfit and so on and so forth. They can turn anything into an imaginary weapon and do.

ibetitsonlyme · 11/02/2010 19:14

We don't allow that type of play in our school. Difficult one, but at school most of play should be directed......play with guns at home is our policy.

MadameDefarge · 11/02/2010 19:21

I would think generally toy guns are not provided for play at school. And again, if a child brings one in on a free play day then that's fine.

Yes they play those games, (have even known little boys chew sandwiches into gun shapes) and ds, the meekest child on earth loves his toy guns....

But its hard when you live in the inner city and want your dcs to understand that real live guns are bad. Lots of kids have older siblings and parents who carry real guns....there the cross over from real life to little boy fantasy play becomes a bit blurred morally.

I have no answers, just commenting.

RonaldMcDonald · 11/02/2010 19:29

i think if more children were taught about guns and what they do from an early age maybe we would have less of a glamour surrounding them

for very small children they are a toy but I think it would be useful to have some sort of information given to older primary children about the devastation of guns and knives

My second school had cadets and we all learned about and used guns and have a v healthy respect for them

Fine for a toy in the beginning but they need to be taught to move away from that as they get older

YABU

mrsleroyjethrogibbs · 11/02/2010 19:30

I understand your difficulty with the gun scenario. Personally I find that my ds will make something up to be a gun even if it bears no resemblence to it. For instance he can even turn a spoon into a gun and go around 'shooting' people.
But that said, my dh is a shooting man in the traditional sense. He has handled a gun since he was tiny and is very sensible about it. We have a gun cabinet which holds his guns and he shows the children how he looks after them and puts them away. He is very responsible and he is teaching ds to be sensible about them too.
We live in the countryside though so guns and shooting is all part of the community we live in. Its not seen as threatening or scarey, just a country way of life.

taffetacat · 11/02/2010 19:33

I don't have a big opinion on them being used in the home, we don't have them but DS makes weapons out of all the usual stuff.

Went to see the Cat in the Hat at the theatre last week and there was a pre school/nursery outing there with one small boy brandishing a toy gun in my DD's face regularly before the production began.

I was quite shocked. Not sure why. All the kids were called Octavius and Persephone etc.

Riponite · 11/02/2010 19:47

I love the idea of resourceful small boys chewing their sandwiches into guns!

I was a helper mummy at nursery recently and some of the boys were making L shaped bits of lego and shooting each other. I said they had to eat anything they shot, so be careful not to shoot each other or they'd have James pie for lunch... they looked surprised

Goblinchild · 11/02/2010 20:16

OP, tell the school you are concerned about the gun and why. You have the right to an opinion, and an explanation. My school would say that a gun wasn't a toy for school.

Goblinchild · 11/02/2010 20:18

Oh, yes we have multilink, twig, finger guns.
They gobble their lunches, even the crusts, so no sandwich guns so far.

onagar · 11/02/2010 21:44

Demand that the school remove all deadly sandwiches from the premises too. You can't be too careful!

If you have a really big pile of sandwiches bitten into gun shapes is that Weapons of Mass Digestion?

scanty · 11/02/2010 21:56

I'm surprised. My kids play with laser/disc guns etc at home. I never bought then guns when they were younger but they still made them from lego and sticks so I accept it's something boys do, but I would never send them to school with one. I honestly thought there would be a policy against any kind of pistols/guns at school. The inner city comment was interesting - guns used to be quite innocent when I was little as there was little chance of ever seeing or being involved with one but guess for many parents they are now a scary fact of life and they're no longer just for cowboys n indians.

mrsleroyjethrogibbs · 12/02/2010 22:06

pmsl Onagar

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