god no they should be banned x

I think there was a thread about this the other week.
Personally i don't like toy guns and wouldn't buy them for any of my kids, but that doesn't stop them making one out of anything to hand.

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out of interest how old is he woodpops? I wouldn't let my ds 27mths have one but would have to consider it when he was older, although i'm hoping that day is a long time coming.

No.

I can't stand them myslef and wouldn't buy one for dd, (have warned family not to aswell)

No - I hate them too and when I am on playground duty (I teach) I try not to let the boys play guns/battles then.

ah woodpops the kitchen is a lovely idea. my mum just sent ds a tea set and he loves it. All our visitors are treated to "more tea?" from the minute they arrive, and all his soft toys of course. I just luv little boys

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. I was adamant that my ds was not going to get guns when he was 3 (I have been counting back whilst reading this thread and ds was coming up to 3 at the time of 'Dunblane' so everyone seemed to avoid buying toy guns around that time).

He's 10 now and when he got to around 5 or 6, a lot of age appropriate toys seemed to involve violence directly or indirectly e.g. 'Action Man', 'Star Wars' etc. so I became more relaxed. Since then, he has bought a toy pistols with his own spending money on holiday. I cautiously agreed reminding him not to aim at any living thing.

As I've relaxed the rules, I've made him understand what is fact and fiction. He watches the news with me and is aware of the dangers of real life (and fake) guns.

I won't be buying my DS (or my DD for that matter) one. If he wants to pretend with something else, fair enough. He hasn't started that sort of play yet though. We got him a kitchen for his 2nd birthday which he loved, and he's just had his 3rd birthday and he had some new pots and pans for it! He loves playing with all the pretend food etc. He helps to do the roast dinner at the weekend too.

Agree with you woodpops! My DS is 2 1/2 and I wouldn't let him have anything like that. Also, he has a kitchen - handed down from some friends. He loves it and always makes sure we have a cup and saucer and uses a teapot - where he got that from I have no idea since I don't own any cups and saucers and only get the teapot out when MIL comes round!

I don't see what's wrong with it personally. I am anti real gun ownership, but I don't think that there is any evidence that children who have toy guns are any more likely to be violent or gun toting. As it happens my ds (3.5) hasn't yet asked for a toy gun as he is creative enough to make them out of lego, sticks, drumsticks, trains, etc. etc. He also makes planes out of cars, cranes out of cardboard boxes. He doesn't watch lots of tv and certainly nothing with any guns or violence. It's just normal kid behavior.

i have just been reading through im stuck in the middle because on one hand yes guns are dangerous but on the other hand from about the age of five i had a water pistol and there was nothing seen as dangerous about them then it was just harmless summer fun iw ould never dream of buying these bb pistols because thy are dangerous and i would rather my ds have a water pistol than one of those laser guns which have been known to blind people the worst a water pistol could do was get them wet but was warned the same as i will be warning ds i was only alowed to wet certain people anyone else and the pitol would be gone for good the same as i wll do with ds ad my mother ment every word

My sons have toy guns - I tried to keep them away when I had my oldest.By the time he was 4 or gun began to creep into the house via fairground wins, lucky dips, bootsale bargains and as we already had a stash of light sabres, water pistols, gun-like sticks, etc the line was very blurred. So I relented. ds 2 grew up in a house of toy guns and right now is going through a gunny phase.

I find that small boys waving small toy guns generally do less harm than small boys waving toy swords or big sticks. Neither of my sons are very docile or exceptionally good, it's true, but both of them are IMO considerate and quite kind to others. Their school reports certainly say that anyway. So IME gun play has not made my sons into insensitive aggressive louts.

It would worry me if my sons were fixated with their guns and having gun fights, but as they play with all sorts of things, I can't see any probs.

I would not buy my DSs a realistic looking gun as I think it's unnecessary and some things should not be considered a toy. However, that does not stop them making weapons out of everything else and they have had water pistold in the past (which resembled space age laser guns rather than a real gun IYSWIM). It;s not the gun as such that bothers me as the realistic nature. I think it's important to maintain a distance between the toy and the real thing.

Tigermoth, your toy swords comment could have come from me.
We went to Lego land recently and I bought DS1+2 a sword and shield each. Within 5 seconds of them having them I realised what a bad idea it was and they have pretty much been confiscated every since.
As far as I'm aware we haven't got a single toy gun in the house(toy box in dire need of a sort out so there could be a 'sneeked in' one at the bottom) but as Nutty says that doesn't stop them making one out other of stuff. We've even had paper ones drawn and cut out by DS1 for him and his little bruv.

Ds was never allowed guns. Aged 9 phone call from head we have confiscated and destroyed gun which ds had in school and are considering his future here. Nightmare. Still don't know where it came from or why he took it to scho olwas a BB gun. He's now 16 and just discovered he bought and brought back another one from Mallorca last year which he has at his sister's house. Also found one hidden behind a brick in the hallway in between times. What do you do? I did my best and it didn't work personally think now it would have been better to join a gun club. If I did he wouldn't have been interested.

I see that buying a toy gun is encouraging violent play, and I personally wouldn't do it. Doesn't it make it very difficult morally when explaining things that go on in our world when it is encouraged/permitted/allowed at home?? The ELC has a no-gun policy (I think that I am right in saying) and I will take my lead from them.

I'm going to be coming from a different background here but: my boys are allowed toy guns, although not allowed to shoot at people with them. My parents live in rural Alabama in the US and my extended family hunts a lot (not the weird fox hunting, but turkey, deer, etc). So there are lots of guns around and everyone, including me, likes to shoot at targets. Gun safety is a big big issue for me. Having a toy gun makes it easier to talk about with my eldest son.

We don't, however, have a gun in our house, because I won't allow one in the house just for so-called protection (ie home intruders), although I shoot well.

Anyway, just another viewpoint. My eldest is comfortable around them and my mother gave him (without asking me) a bb gun last year when he was 5. It stays with her and he uses it on our holiday here. He enjoys it and the worst he could do is put an eye out. As tigermoth mentioned, it's those toy swords that are the dangerous things in our house. (I didn't buy those either....)

I used to have a no gun policy and was adamant about it. Now i don't. I think it is a massive learning curve for a boys psychological upbringing. I don't throw away an action mans accessories because he comes with a gun. There is a vent and a need with my children to let off masculine steam. It is important to me now that my boys enjoy fighting, i don't want to close that emotion off, and i do believe it is an emotion. Also i think banning something or protecting them from a relevant issue in life is something i don't want to do. I want freedom for them, guns are in toy shops and friends houses so i wont protect them from it. I will teach them that playing and shooting is fun, it is about growing up. Sometimes i get more offended that girls get babies and irons, but it is a childs sexual creativity. I don't buy them personally, i try to buy neutral gifts, that is only because i want them to turn into adults knowing they have freedom to choose.
I would draw the line with replica guns used in war, but only at the age they are now, i think that is just insensitivity. I am sure they will be fascinated with them at an older stage, more so if it is a taboo subject.

jj, my husband would love your family! He's always liked guns, goes hunting (rabbits) when he's in Devon, knows quite a bit about them and is very, very hot on gun safety.

DS (18 mnths) was given a party popper in the shape of a gun in a restaurant a couple of weeks ago. He loves it because you can open and close the top of it and it is shiney. I was worried about letting him have it, but DP pointed out that he would want guns so much more if we banned them. Better to let it pass without comment. As SofiaAmes says, too, when he's older if he wanted a gun he'd make one out of whatever he found. So I now agree with DP - I don't want to make it attractive to him to have guns by banning them or making a deal about them. When he's older I am sure we will talk about them.

we've got a 'no toy gun' policy with ds, now 3y3m. However, that doesn't stop him using anything he can find as a gun. Currently, though, everything is a laser like Buzz Lightyear has - when he's cross with us he presses his arm and makes his 'laser' noise to shoot us... I don't think you can avoid it, once they mix with other and slightly older boys they all seem to be at it. It seems too to be a way of him letting out some of his emotions, often where he would have had a tantrum or tried to hit or kick out when angry, he'll do his shooting thing now. Not ideal I'm sure but a bit easier on the shins!

Funnily enough, he had a cooker for his 3rd birthday and he gets hours and hours of play with it, so whoever was thinking of it, it's a great idea.

My sons have a tendency to go completely bezerk when faced with toy guns - and I mean bonkers; and swords are even worse - as TM describes. If you give a child a toy sword what do you expect him/her to do with it other than hit someone?!

For these reasons we have a very strict no weapons in the house rule, and anything used as a weapon goes straight in the bin.

Having said that both my sons are from time to time 'insensitive aggressive louts', (though at other times they can be considerate and kind to others), so I'm certainly not claiming our weapons policy has had any positive impact on their overall development.