Ever.
It's out of hand at the RWB household.
W is obsessed with anything to do with war, fighting, guns, killing, etc. It's all he wants. The stores and kids movies completely support this obsession. I do not.
What do we do? Do we nix anything to do with fighting/war? So....no army men from Toy Story, no Incredibles, no Transformer toys, no Star Wars toys (which are his all time favorite), no violent kids movies, etc, etc??? We've never been a huge supporter of this kind of play. W has no toy guns. He has not watched Star Wars although he does have a Lego Star Wars visual dictionary. This kind of stuff.
Or do we let him have some. The fantasy stuff such as pirates, knights, swords, Star Wars. Feed his desire a little bit and explain that war, police, gun toys are off limits (because they are not fantasy based?)
Fast forward to the teen age years....is this like...okay you can have some drugs... just pot...but not the hard core stuff like meth?
Where do we draw the line?
I KNOW that the superhero stuff, etc is a part of being a boy BUT I feel like it's gone too far at our house, with our boy. I hate it all. At the same time, I don't want to raise a wimpy, momma's boy who has no friends, grows geraniums for fun, is scared of his shadow, etc.
Help! Totally lost in boyhood...
Grows geraniums for fun....??? Yikers!
ReplyDeleteI can remember when I was a wee lad, which is starting to seem to be a very long time ago, I also had a strong obsession with these exact same things. Anything to do with guns or military was always a fascination with me. I can remember when I was about 10 years old when Rod Hill and I planning our escape when we turned 18 to go join the military. Even in college when I went to see what it would be like to join the Army Reserves. Although none of my military dreams ever came to fruition, it has always been a big regret of mine.
ReplyDeleteAs far as guns, well, I have probably at least 12 firearms that I am still fascinated with, just as much as I was when I got my first .22 when I was 9 years old. As far as I know I have never committed a violent crime and have never killed anyone.
As much as Dad seems to be blamed for everything, he always made sure we grew up knowing what something did, how it could hurt us, how to operate it, and how not to wreck it. Maybe all W needs is a bit of exposure and education when it comes to his "Fantasies".
I read an article somewhere recently talking about boys and guns and play. It concluded that it is all play and make-believe and has no bearing on future violence or love of real war. Just let 'em play.
ReplyDeleteAs a mother I don't like it either. But I'm trying to take it for what it is. Part of their 'wild-ness'...?
I understand your (personal) gun issue and I feel for you........because boys are boys and guns just seem to be a part of their growing days! It is such a struggle to avoid it and direct them elsewhere as it is EVERYWHERE! They want to shoot and chase, and tie up and lock up, and yesh! I have a closet corner, an empty pull-up box which holds all said guns/spears/swords in the Barber house!
ReplyDeleteThere are rules with these weapons and they need to be revisited frequently but the play of them goes in spurts and starts....just when I think they are getting out of it, little P starts running around with a sword! I think I have a few years yet to go!