why does he always like playing guns?

[crazydays]

This is a common discussion in our household, we have 3 boys, our oldest 4.5 then 2 and an 8 month old. our eldest has always been captured by anything that resembles a gun this can range from a water pistol to a slice of bread hes nibbled into the shape of a pistol!!! arrrhhhh. as you can tell this gets right under my skin we dont promote this kind of play but he is fond of "boy things" i guess action man, policeman sets etc etc he would prefer to build a gun from lego than anything else, my biggest concern is that since baba was born the other 2 have been mixing more and guess what i know have starskey and hutch!! but hes only 2, my son knows how much it grates me and to be fair dosnt seem to do it to aggravate me he just loves it he livens up almost, my husband does agree that we must monitor the situation but confesses that he did have play guns as a child and he isnt the slightest bit interested know. i cringe at times when he uses the play inappropriatley.

[griffy]

My DS desperately wants a gun, but doesn't know it yet! At 2Y5M, he grabs things like sticks, points them aggressively and says 'Whoosh' in a staccato voice. He then says - "Mummy, I got you, you're wet now"...

Bless him - he's substituting fireman's hoses. One day, someone'll tell him what a gun is... (I'm dreading it).

[jodee]

On a similar topic, did anyone see this story in the papers today!

[SoupDragon]

It's a boy thing - you can't stop it. Sigh. My only "rule" is that we don't actually have any toy guns (or real ones!!) in the house. They can make pretend ones from whatever they like. I also make it clear that it's not nice to shoot people, to which DS1 (4) usually replies, rather scathingly, "It's only pretend, mummy."

They pick it up from school and nursery from older boys so there's really no getting away from it.

[kazzi]

I'm stalking you now sorry.My eldest two are boys of 5 and 6 and I felt the same way but I think boys will be boys once they started mixing with other children they had guns and so mine then started making guns too out of lego.I'm more relaxed about it now they are not gun mad but when they do play I don't mind I think boys really do need this sort of play.I played with guns when i was little and I'm not a murderer or anything it's only pretend play.Just the same as little girls love tea sets and things.I did get a strong reaction from someone when one of my boys dressed up as a cowboy for a fancy dress which I thought was well over the top.Kids have always played cowboys and indians for years I reckon it's the increasing violence on the T.V even in the cartoons these day which is the problem.