Help: "Pros And Cons Of ‘Violent Toys’"? .. Parents welcome!

[BC_MoM]

Quick summary of what I'm doing....

An article about children and playing with toy guns. My main headings are "Should Children Play With Guns", "What Appropriate And Inappropriate Toys" and "What Are Pros And Cons Of ‘Violent Toys’"....

For "What Are Pros And Cons Of ‘Violent Toys’", I can't find any pro's, as in why some parents would let their child play with toy guns, and not ban this type of play.. Any ideas?

[Flatcoatluver]

The kids I babysit had their guns tooken away from them by their mother, but their father as the one that bought the guns and given it without saying one word to his wife. A guy thing?

[Nomilynn]

Rather than looking for "pros" you might want to try proving how a positive relationship between parents and children will teach that playing with guns won't lead to violent behaviour. In other words, it won't matter if a kid plays with toy guns if they know that it is a toy and that it won't lead to something destructive later on. That kind on knowledge will come from an involved and loving family/parent. I hope I'm making sense

[king2005]

I had barbies, Ninja Turtles, toy guns & shoot em up games.. I'm not going around shooting or killing people. I use to even own guns & NEVER thought of harming anybody. I still have a pellet pistol that has been collecting dust for a couple years as I have no real use for it, nor a place to shoot it.

My dad had a .22 in his closet & not once did I ever touch it. When I was 8, he took me along with my friends to the bedroom & showed it to us. He let us hold it & look at it. He did this so if we found it while playing hide & seek, we would have no need to touch it, as we've already seen it & its nothing new.

My friends & I use to play cops & Robbers & sometimes turn on other players & try to take over the game. We had water guns, those noise guns & nerf guns. When I have kids, they'll be raised the same way & will have fun playing with brightly coloured guns & learn that play shooting an adult is a bad thing, but play shooting a friend during a game is just fine.

[Samantha Puppy]

I had barbies, Ninja Turtles, toy guns & shoot em up games.. I'm not going around shooting or killing people. I use to even own guns & NEVER thought of harming anybody. I still have a pellet pistol that has been collecting dust for a couple years as I have no real use for it, nor a place to shoot it.

...

My friends & I use to play cops & Robbers & sometimes turn on other players & try to take over the game. We had water guns, those noise guns & nerf guns. When I have kids, they'll be raised the same way & will have fun playing with brightly coloured guns & learn that play shooting an adult is a bad thing, but play shooting a friend during a game is just fine.

Well said. Parents need to take the responsibility of teaching their children the difference between fantasy and real life. My father played Cowboys & Indians growing up, I played Cops & Robbers, my brother used to be a pirate, complete with a "sword" and make me walk the plank, and none of us have ever even remotely entertained the thought of actually hurting anyone else. Hell, my family used to do Civil War reenactments and my dad and brother would shoot actual guns (filled with blanks, not bullets) but not even that ever made my brother - who was 12 when we started - ever think to attack anyone with a real gun/weapon.

I personally think that too many people these days are looking to put the blame ANYWHERE else but on themselves. The amount of ridiculous, frivolous lawsuits is enough to prove it.

But I digress. One of the best things about being able to play games like Pirates or Cops & Robbers was that my imagination was allowed to go into overdrive. No longer was I Jaime. I was a princess who had been captured by an evil pirate. I was a brilliant detective going after the worst bad guy in the history of bad guys. One of the things that my teachers ALWAYS had to say about me to my parents was that I had a terrific imagination. It's because I was allowed to use and expand it.

[sirrahbed]

A positive thing about toy guns would be learning some gun safety - like not pointing them, etc. They can also learn some history by playing cowboy, pioneer and the like. Guns are a reality and they are not necessarily violent toys. All three of my kids had toy guns (I think) and they were just...toys.

Now that my kids are adults, two of them still enjoy target practice and are very, very good with guns. One son is a good hunter. Kids play with cars and "wreck" the cars....but that does not lead to driving into buildings and intentionally into other vehicles to make a crash? I believe that pretending and using toys is a healthy thing. Parents need to supervise smaller children and can use the toys to do this. For example - talking about safety and history the same as they might explain caring for a babydoll - see what I mean?

Plastic or metal toy swords, guns, cars, etc - they are toys and provide fun and learning, make-believe, etc.

Hope this is a bit helpful - is my opinion.

[Cataholic]

Hmmm....with all the wonderful imaginary things there are out in the world...painting, music, fantasy dress up, legos, etc...WHY do guns and violence need to be focused on at all? While every child that grows up with guns, knives, swords, as play toys don't go onto kill, hurt or maim, I just cannot fathom why it is a 'good' thing to encourage?

It is all de-sensitizing activities, that really do not teach things that are acceptable in the world today. As an adult, Jonah will not be allowed to have sword fights, and 'kill' things (not if I have anything to say about it), he won't be permitted to point guns at people and pretend that he shoots them.


Sure, there are people that go on to become Olympic athelets in the javelin throw, and fencing...and, I suppose expert marks(wo)men, but, by and large...those are the exceptions, not the rule.

IMO, there isn't anything necessary in the violent toys that can't be accomplished with the non-violent toys. So, why stress them at all?

Now, if I can only eliminate the noisy toys.......