Toy gun, viewed innocently or not !

I had a cowboy outfit too when I was a child complete with a cap gun, that banged so loud it would make you jump( I grew up in the height of the troubles in N.Ireland too! ). How times change that people don't feel comfortable with some toys we didn't worry about years ago.

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’!!!

In 1983 when my son had his 3rd birthday he was given a present by a friend at school. I walked into town and was in the fruit and veg aisle in Waitrose when he managed to open his present which was a cap gun. It apparently already had a cap in there so when he pulled the trigger there was a loud bang. The women in Waitrose turned round and smiled at him. He hurriedly said 'Here Mummy put this in your bag because it frightened the old ladies'. He didn't touch it for weeks after as it was him that had been frightened!
That was the only gun he ever had as we didn't want to buy him one.
He did go on to using his fingers as guns, as most children do.

I'm sure that the more you show your disapproval of childhood activities the more they will rebel when they're older.

Of course, there will be exceptions and examples of perfect parents who raise perfect children (and I expect they are all on Gransnet).

My sister and I used to play cowboys and Indians, Robin Hood and pirates. My grandsons used to make bows and arrows, and had action man with guns and tanks. None of us are criminals!

I would not worry. Children will be children. My grandchildren do not have play guns as such. However, they use wooden spoons and kitchen roll tubes. These are the boys though! Boys will be boys

Lol I wouldn’t have worried about my GC playing with toy gun. I’d be more worried about having it in my bag ppl might have thought you were going to use it. Both my sons had toy guns but we were in military and one of my sons is also now in military. My 3yr grandson as a toy gun brought off Other grandparents He’s not interested in it. Kids play games on consoles shooting each other. Not everyone who plays with guns turns out to be a nutcase.

I too have fond memories of playing cowboys & indians or knights in armour with cap guns, toy rifles, swords and bows and arrows. If someone didn't have a toy gun (or whatever) they improvised. I was a real tomboy and much preferred playing with the boys and their toys!

When on holiday one summer my grandfather taught me how to make a bow and arrow (finding and preparing the correct wood etc), he let me use his knife to do that. He put a target on the wall and it was my favourite toy that holiday.

Our own sons had toy guns, swords, water pistols, light sabres etc. DH kept an air rifle from his youth which he used for shooting rats in the garden. The boys of course used it for target practise as they got older. It came in very useful one day when a very angry and aggressive man was hammering on our door. The sight of a cracked rifle butt over my arm soon made him back off!

Would I worry about my GC playing with toy guns? No I wouldn't. We have taken them to historical re-enactments, jousting etc and they thoroughly enjoyed it, and took great interest in the costumes and the history as well as the weaponry. But they fully understood that it was all acting and role play.

We play conkers with our GC as well. Yes they might hurt their fingers but it's all part of the game. I'd hate to see these old games disappearing because children are over-protected or schools fear law suits for bruised knuckles!

I think if one of my GC was playing with a toy gun in a shop I'd suggest he holstered it until we left the shop as it might frighten the customers! Although as some joined in his game it didn't seem to worry them too much.

Never gave my son a gun and he never watched anything on TV with guns when he was little. But one day I went outside to see him with a stick shooting passing traffic!! So obviously little boys have an built-in shooting gene!!!!

MisAdventure was trying to think what those guns are called. Yes, nearly every boy I know has a Nerf gun and seem to have great fun playing with them. Where does this end? Gd is keen in archery, is she not allowed this as a hobby/sport. Granted not pointing directly at anyone but it is a weapon. Wonder how many children will never be allowed to play any computer games where they are destroying the enemy either by brute force or by firing weapons. Think knife crime is more prevalent in young folk than gun crime.

I worry that video games, where characters go around killing atavars dulls children’s responses to the effects of real guns. Heaven forbid we should be like the gun toting Americans.

And it's not just the boys. When my elder daughter was about 2 or 3, she used to sit in the seat in the shopping trolley at the supermarket. Once, in the vegetable aisle I had briefly turned away to grab some carrots and when I turned back, there she was with a huge leek in her hands, pointing it and going 'bang! Bang!' This same daughter joined the cadets 10 years or so later and was brilliant at rifle drill, or so OH and I were told.

I have never liked toy guns I like them even less since the event at Dunblane I'm local to there and schoolfriends of mine had children injured or killed

My grandson bit his piece of toast into a gun shape and pointed it at DD while still in his high chair. He must have been about two at the most. Once he’d eaten it he forgot about it completely.
He’s grown up a completely normal and kind young man.

Actually I was talking about this subject to a friend last week, her 10 year old son had requested and received a junior bow and arrow for Christmas. Not completely with her approval but he wants to join a proper archery club and this is the first step to see if it is a passing fad or a future sporting skill.

They do shooting drills at schools in England too. Mine had nerf guns, I'd forgot about them

Suppose letting children play "knights and dragons" with cardboard swords is "not advisable" either? What about pirates with swords? Nope? How about we stop all children's imaginative play, just in case they all become homicidal maniacs?

Totally agree with you there, Callistemon. I wouldn't ever want us to go down that route either, and I wouldn't let a child take a toy gun to the supermarket, but I think some people need to calm down a little. Playing with a toy gun is not going to turn a child into some kind of monster.

It's quite interesting to read what paragons of virtue some parents and their children are; never fashioned a sword/gun/dagger out of a piece of card or wood, never played "weaponised games" like "cowboys and injuns" and always brushed their teeth at night!

I don't think there is any evidence that playing with guns leads to people becoming homicidal.
Those kinds of issues run much more deeply than that.

Sorry, didn't finish the sentence properly.
The Congressman and family posing with their weapons sent shudders through me.

I'd make him leave the toy pistol at home next time you go to the supermarket, Serendipity!

I think the 'naive' adults are the ones who think that simply not giving a child a toy gun will stop them from improvising their own versions...

I agree.
It's something most very young children do but the vast majority grow out of. The ones that don't in all probability come from troubled backgrounds.

I would not want to live in America where carrying guns is the norm and that Congressman proudly posed with his family, all showing off their automatic weapons.

There is lots of research in education that shows if we take away play guns children make them from Lego, sticks etc. Then they will say its something else other than a gun when asked by grown ups, so we send the whole thing underground. Many children grow up with parents who use guns in their work roles e.g. armed forces, police. game keepers so they are also getting mixed messages. Weapon play has gone one for years and children do not grow up into serial killers, gun slingers or pirates as a result....

Calistemon

Toothpaste is better these days, V3ra, we'd never heard of fluoride
?

My dad had immaculate movie star teeth! So straight and white they looks false ! But weren't, anyway he drilled us to clean clean clean! We could eat whatever we wanted........as long as we cleaned properly before bed! Results? Mine are beautiful and look great so much that my hairdresser actually asked me if they were veneers?? Heredity helps but cleaning regime beats toothpaste additives!

Mummer

MissAdventure

Do nobody's grandchildren have Nerf guns?
I'd be amazed if not.

Nope! Nothing at ALL that looks/sounds/acts/smells even like a weapon! Pop gun? NOPE and I don't know any of my extended circle of kids of friends and family that would even consider them! I think it depends on how naïve the adults are?

I think the 'naive' adults are the ones who think that simply not giving a child a toy gun will stop them from improvising their own versions...

Chestnut

Exactly so Oldwoman70 as mostly young children like playing with fantasy guns, whether cowboy, sci-fi or lego. It's the older children playing computer games which are using 'real' guns and killing people in very violent ways which are a concern. Some spend a great deal of time on them and become addicted or almost to the point. This is what can normalise guns and murder, not the toy guns of their childhood.

Disagree to some extent. Very young get older and start their games life with maybe Minecraft, innocent enough, but believe me it very quickly progresses to combatative gaming , it's virtually impossible not to, so the seeds of the idea that guns are 'normal' should be avoided at all costs.