Let’s just put this out there. I don’t like guns.
I don’t like a single, solitary thing about them. They make me uncomfortable.
The general idea of them makes me all anxious and nervous.
I’ve obviously never fired one. Maybe I would feel differently. But I don’t think so.
I knew that having a boy would mean an eventual imaginary game with guns. I mean, hell, even I played cowboy as a kid and we had toy guns! I can’t even imagine that these days. Now you can’t even hold up your hand and make a shooting motion without offending someone.
Sunday night it happened. Bug was shooting balls out of his helicopter toy and he said “mommy, I shoot you!” I stared at him blankly and dumbfounded. “Um, let’s say something else honey” as he raised the helicopter to eye-level to shoot me again. Then he proceeded to go into this toddler babble about the boy we played with a few weeks ago and how he “shooted” lots of things.
My husband looks over at me. I make a face. Since Bug was really talking about a water gun, hubs said “do you mean he squirted you bud?” “No Daddy, he shooted me.”
Great.
I am totally and completely not ready for this.
There must be a study that explains this phenomenon. When I taught preschool some of the boys chewed their graham crackers into the shape of guns. I think it is in the Y chromosome!
I have to agree with Carolyn. I have a friend that would not allow toy guns in the house. Her sons took their older sisters barbie dolls, bent them in half at the waist, and used them as guns. It's ingrained.
I grew up in an area where hunting was a way of life for a lot of people. There were excused absences from school, in the morning, during hunting season. I also grew up with guns in the house. Both antique on display and ones locked in a safe. I think the key is teaching respect for guns. Now how you handle with 2 year old boys…I haven't a clue. I am in the same boat as you with one sistah!
I completely agree with you on guns, as well as swords. I have not bought any for my little guy, and I really hope nobody gives him any as gifts. So far we have avoided any dealing with the issue, but I'm sure it will come up at some point.
I am definitely not a fan of gun play either. Maddy sometimes mentions killing as a part of her pretend play and I have a hard time with that too. Shooting, killing, swords I'm not a fan.
It's hard, and when they get in preschool, they get exposed to even more….a lot more than girls do. I was in a toy store with my friend and her daughters, and they started playing with a laser. She got upset about it, and it's just life with boys. I've done my best to teach him not say, "shoot, kill" or anything like that. We also don't have any toy guns in the house—the cowboy has to use a banana.