We have a positive attitude towards ‘weapon play’ which is proving difficult to explain to parents. Has anybody any tips for handling this?
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Children will always play with toy guns/swords, even if you do not provide toy guns, they will use other toys as weapons. One of my sons favorites was to use Duplo to make guns, he was not exposed to any violent programmes, he just learnt about guns from children’s books and cartoons.
He has grown up (17 now) with a healthy respect for weapons, he has used guns during his time in cadets and is now a member of the Royal Navy.
I relise that children with play with ‘gun shooters’ as my little one calls them and children always have through the generation. It is my preference that my children and the children I care for do not play such games in my care. How do you go about explaining to children why it is not appropriate?
Do you think children will ‘miss out’ on something if they’re not able to play such games?
I know lot’s of children, myself included who played games involving wepons, non of them have become violent adults or teens. Children who grow up watching parental agression and out of control aruments, have drug addicts and alcoholics for parents or who don’t recieve balenced and consistnet disaplin are the nasty ones. I don’t thinks it’s right to make the way boys play into something wrong (equal consern means taking individual needs and likes into account not one rule fits all). We should teach them how to play safly and encorage apropriate language. I have had children roll up bits of paper to use as guns lol. I still don’t allow guns that look real into my setting but have no problem with a duplo, paper or finger gun. As long as they are shooting aliens attaking earth or really bad baddies lol, then I don’t mind. If they started talking about shooting the geek or a teacher, then and only then would I be conserned. However this has never happened. I would say we grow out of it (I was never a girly girl) but I still enjoy the odd slow motion water gun fight in the summer.
I recently went to talk by a lady who has written a book called “we don’t play with guns here” but is actually about how she used to have a zero tolerance to guns/weapon play but she discovered when she relaxed the rules she saw there was some amazing and imaginative play going on, like the guns became things that could make people come back to life in other words they were ‘magic’ and we don’t mind magic wands! and it made me think a lot more about childrens imagination and magical thinking. Really inspirational and if i can remember her name i will post it too!
I have been to the same talk, although probably at a different venue, and I too found it very inspirational. I think that telling children that the way they wish to express themselves in their play is wrong. We should watch the play develop, and if we see something that is really worrying then intervene to help them set it into context with other behaviours, but appreciate that they are just trying to work through something that they have seen, which is an important benefit of play and they need to be allowed to do this.