Toy gun, viewed innocently or not !

Would you let the kiddies play at drive-by shootings?

Let me be provocative by turning this round by saying 'Why not?' it is a child's game and as many posters have shown, games played as children rarely play any part in shaping the adults those children become. Children experience the adult world through their play and will reflect what surrounds them in their play. so if they see a drive-by shooting on the news on tv, they might well play it out the next day.

I spent long periods in hopsutal as a child. When I came home, i often played doctors and nurses for some weeks after my return, not because I loved being in hospital, nor because I had any desire for a medical career. But as a way of playing out and integrating into my life story, the experience I had just gone through

ditto MissAdventure!

I used to love playing with my toy ironing board, keeping house, and going off "shopping", wearing high heels.
None of which appeal to me in the slightest as an adult.

Would you let the kiddies play at drive-by shootings? Or is it only okay to play at killing red indians, or shoppers in supermarkets?

Now you're being silly caleo! And the term "red indians" is deeply offensive and hasn't been acceptable for at least 2 decades. Native American or American Indian is their requested terminology.

Caleo

Would you let the kiddies play at drive-by shootings? Or is it only okay to play at killing red indians, or shoppers in supermarkets?

The Sun Kid was in his own home (not a supermarket) and shooting a bad guy who had drawn his gun, not Indians. The Wild West has always been a fantasy world for children along with Harry Potter and sci-fi like Star Wars etc. You are taking this far too seriously.

Would you let the kiddies play at drive-by shootings? Or is it only okay to play at killing red indians, or shoppers in supermarkets?

Young children learn through play. Every infant teacher knows that!

A ne'er do well if ever I saw one Chestnut!
Isn't it lovely to see them in dressing up stuff and playing imaginatively!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202201/medium-923924-2017-sun-kid3a.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202201/medium-682422-2017-sun-kid2a.jpg

Well here is my 3 year old grandson aka as The Sun Kid showing his fast draw. It's a fantasy game played at home and he's loving it. He's 8 now and doesn't play it any more. I'm more concerned about those ghastly murderous computer games he may come across when he's older.

Personally, I was grateful to be "deaded" on Christmas Day caleo, it was the only time I got to lie down for 5 minutes.

I'm not sure there is any evidence to support the the idea that toy guns are harmful.
(Cue someone popping up to prove me wrong! )

Children pick up bad influences from their chums, but this is no reason for parents to buy their child harmful toys or approve of the kid pretending to shoot people dead in a supermarket or anywhere else.

It’s fine
Perfectly normal he’s not going to turn into a mass gunman because he has a toy gun!

Nothing wrong with toy guns, if children don’t have a toy gun they will pretend to shoot with their fingers, can be part of normal play. We had toy guns as children and haven’t turned into murdering maniacs! Sometimes restricting certain ‘unsuitable’ toys makes them that much more interesting, just like ‘forbidden fruit’.

Caro57

My DS didn’t have a toy gun so would pick up a stick, point it and say ‘bang bang’ - it’s inbuilt into the age group. Equally he ‘fell in love’ with a doll that I had played with as a child and took it to my then in-laws where FIL promptly told me I was ‘bringing him up to be gay’!!!

DS used to push his Action Men round in his sister's doll's pram.
He's a lovely Dad now ?

He looks really scary, Chewbacca ?
I've put my hands up!

? I used to wonder ( as a child) why adults always needed to sit down and have cups of tea at regular intervals....I know now alright!

We did our best to engineer it that way Lemonmeoldfruit! But RugRat#2 kept insisting we'd been "deaded long enough"! Drat!

Chewbacca

GS, aged 5, asked for Woody costume for Christmas and was given a cowboy hat, waistcoat, gingham neckerchief and chaps. But no gun. GS was dismayed but, being a born problem solver, he constructed his own out of the Lego set that he also got for Christmas. We spent a large part of Christmas Day lying down "deaded"; which was a bonus.

Hope it was on a comfy sofa??

Clearly a kid heading to a life of criminality and skullduggery. I'd better not show you the pirate costume; that has........ whisper it quietly a sword.

I had a holster set, caps, a fringed vest, and cowboy hat. I also had a fringed Indian get up, complete with bow and arrows, headband with feather, and a teepee large enough for me to crawl inside of. Santa Claus brought all of these. I played with them a lot and enjoyed them very much.

Excuse me, I feel I may faint after reading that.
Where are my smelling salts?

…..oh just to ‘offend’ the righteous people more….. I gave my 10 year old granddaughter a ‘shooting’ game for Christmas … the targets were clowns faces….. now clowns are REALLY offensive! And she got given a punchbag ….. and another round of MixedMartial Arts payments as gifts. There’s one female creature heading straight for the gallows …no doubt!

I really cannot believe this thread …. a toy plastic cowboy gun offends you!?!? Really?
I played with guns as did my many brothers…. my grandchildren have had /do have now guns. I have seen all these people grow up into respectable law abiding citizens…. we all ‘put away childish things’.
Is this the same theory that little girls get dolls and their prams thrust at them from as soon as they can walk….. what’s that saying to girls “ here this is all you’re meant for”.
I cannot believe anyone wouldn’t think this thread a joke!

Oh how I wanted a cowboy outfit Alioop I used to get a Roy Rogers comic which was great fun but full of a lot of Americanisms that were quite beyond me. I played endless games of cowboys and indians with the boys, with a later diversion into Davy Crockett. One of my most treasured possessions was my pirate pistol which was a double barrelled flintlock pistol.

Two of my grandsons are 15 and 9 and the big success this Christmas was a pair of Nerf guns.