Guns...Shooting....

[AmandasFCC]

I don't allow gun play whatsoever either. I just don't like it.

[AnythingsPossible]

I used to be very adamant about no gun play. Some family issues cause this point of view. Anyway, it was seeming like a constant battle. I attended a training on play zones and the women that was giving the training used to run a home daycare. She had a covered wagon in her backyard play space (how cool would that be!!) and for her, that was her gun zone. The kids were allowed to play gun type games there, but they had to be hunting for something, once they left the wagon, the guns were done. We live in a very hunting minded area!! What she had chosen to do was accept the fact the kids were going to play gun games, and gave them an area in which they could in a play scenario that in her mind was appropriate and relevant to their lives. I have adopted this in the aspect in that when I see them start with gun play, I ask what we are hunting for and where we are going hunting at. Now, 7 times out of 10, hunting wasn't on their mind, but that's what we turn it into. I have a 7 years old in care who was given a 22 for christmas and santa brought him bullets. Not the present of choice in my mind, but it's a different mind set for some people.
As for the rough play. I have no idea. I have 4 boys from 3.5 to 7 that would wrestle and attack each other all day if I let them. I honestly think it's just boy behavior. They all watch wrestling on tv, wrestle in the USA wrestling and one takes tae kwan do(sp). It seems I seperate them daily. No answer for that one.
My take on gun play isn't the normal one, but for my area, I've chosen to work with it, rather then constantly fight it. If they do get out of hand or are aiming their "guns" at people, the toy of choice is taken away and they sit at the table for awhile.

[DBug]

We live right beside a military base, so whenever we're outside we can hear the gunfire and various explosions from the munitions guys. About half of my families are military, so gun knowledge is pretty common around here. I haven't had to deal with gun play yet, but when/if I do, I plan on taking it very seriously. As the kids get older and are playing with less supervision in their own houses or in friends' houses, it's quite likely that they could come across a gun, and I certainly don't want them to think it's a toy. So my rule is no toy weapons, pretend shooting or any other kind of aggressive play.

With school-age boys of my own, I know how hard it is to get them to play games that aren't aggressive, but I also know how important it is. I have known other families that have a different philosophy (ie. letting boys be "boys"), and they have also experienced multiple problems at school with their sons getting into fights resulting in suspensions, etc. I really strongly believe that teaching them to control the aggression is a huge step in self-control and self-discipline. And they need to learn it while they're young, cuz it's alot harder to learn when they're older!

Hopefully it will work with my dc kids too!

[Stacy214]

I used to be very adamant about no gun play. Some family issues cause this point of view. Anyway, it was seeming like a constant battle. I attended a training on play zones and the women that was giving the training used to run a home daycare. She had a covered wagon in her backyard play space (how cool would that be!!) and for her, that was her gun zone. The kids were allowed to play gun type games there, but they had to be hunting for something, once they left the wagon, the guns were done. We live in a very hunting minded area!! What she had chosen to do was accept the fact the kids were going to play gun games, and gave them an area in which they could in a play scenario that in her mind was appropriate and relevant to their lives. I have adopted this in the aspect in that when I see them start with gun play, I ask what we are hunting for and where we are going hunting at. Now, 7 times out of 10, hunting wasn't on their mind, but that's what we turn it into. I have a 7 years old in care who was given a 22 for christmas and santa brought him bullets. Not the present of choice in my mind, but it's a different mind set for some people.
As for the rough play. I have no idea. I have 4 boys from 3.5 to 7 that would wrestle and attack each other all day if I let them. I honestly think it's just boy behavior. They all watch wrestling on tv, wrestle in the USA wrestling and one takes tae kwan do(sp). It seems I seperate them daily. No answer for that one.
My take on gun play isn't the normal one, but for my area, I've chosen to work with it, rather then constantly fight it. If they do get out of hand or are aiming their "guns" at people, the toy of choice is taken away and they sit at the table for awhile.

I like this idea! and will keep it in mind for when the time comes, thank you!
3 out of 4 of my dck's have their hunting/fishing license already (cheaper before they are 1 and it's for life ) crazy

[melskids]

well, i am a card toting memeber of the NRA too. our family hunts, fishes, belongs to the local rod and gun club, archery club, and trappers association, target pratices, clay shoots, you name it. my 14 yr old just hunted big game for the first time this year. my 8yr old has a pellet gun. we come from a looong line of outdoorsmen. (so do all my DC families. one momma hunted pregnant this past fall) we teach our children responsible hunting. they dont just go out unsupervised and shoot up everything just for the sake of doing it. they learn to take only what they are going to eat, and we have even donated venison to our local food bank. i absolutely believe its not guns who kill people, its people who kill people. its all about education and gun safety. (BTW, there are NO guns or ammo in my home AT ALL. its all at my inlaws home, and even there, it is locked up appropriately)

that being said, i am absolutely disgusted with what i see on TV. not just violence, but sexual situations as well. i dont let my sons watch violent or sexually explicit shows, and we closley monitor what they do see.


as far as the daycare, i don't necessarily allow gun play or encourage it, but when it happens, i dont make a huge deal about it either. i dont want it in my DC, but sometimes the more you make a big deal about what they can't do, the more they want to do it. although i will usually redirect them to do something else, i dont draw alot of attention to it either. if the older boys are outside chasing aliens, i might let it go. if they start shooting at each other, or beating each other with the sticks, then i intervine.

but i also dont feel that all fantasy play will lead to violence later on. my son loves star wars. just because he likes to pretend he's darth vader now, doesn't mean he's going to turn into the son of sam later. murderers, rapists and gang bangers are that way because a lack of morals and values, and other phsycological issues. not because their mothers let them play cops and robbers when they were 5.

JMO

<<<<<zipping up my flame suit now>>>>>>>>

[littlemonkeys]

I am a card toting member of the NRA:: and I do not allow gun "play".

Guns are not play. Guns are scary just like poison, snakes, and spiders....

Once they are much older they can be taught appropriate gun safety, at home, by their parents. If they so choose.

Here pointing a "hand" gun (pun intended) receives the same correction as "shooting a bird"....both are a No-No... No shooting, period. ::

This is the way I feel, too. There's just no place for this in my daycare setting.

I feel the same way too... In school here, "toy guns" are NOT allowed. So I have made the decision to keep them out of my daycare as well. In our school district the kids are not even allowed to wear a shirt with a gun on it. We went to Disneyland and bought my son a shirt. The print was Goofy dressed like a cowboy with his hands on a gun holster. I didn't even think it was a big deal and sent my son to school with it on... just to get a call later to bring him a new shirt or take him home.

[Luna]

We had a thread about this earlier, and because of it I did a bunch of research.
The gun play bothered me a lot, but I allow it because of what I learned.
My dck's were turning everything into guns...food, legos, fingers, sticks, pieces of fluff...everything. No matter how much I tried to stop it, they did it every chance they got.
The research said that trying to stop the gun play may teach them to become deceptive, eg. when you catch them playing "guns", the gun becomes a telephone.

I wouldn't allow a gun that looks like a gun, meaning anything that could possibly be mistaken for a real gun, so it's legos and crackers for my dck's.
The research shows that (God forbid) a child finding a real gun will want to pick it up, whether or not they've been exposed to guns or gun play.

Those are just a couple of points that stood out for me. There were many more.

I don't allow them to shoot at each other or at animals, and if someone behaves like they're angry, the play is over.

I certainly understand and respect everyone's opinion and decisions about this, but this is how I feel about it after spending DAYS checking out the information available.

[laundrymom]

I am in love with this post!!! I whole heartedly agree.

I am a card toting member of the NRA:: and I do not allow gun "play".

Guns are not play. Guns are scary just like poison, snakes, and spiders....

Once they are much older they can be taught appropriate gun safety, at home, by their parents. If they so choose.

Here pointing a "hand" gun (pun intended) receives the same correction as "shooting a bird"....both are a No-No... No shooting, period. ::

[nannyde]

We had a thread about this earlier, and because of it I did a bunch of research.
The gun play bothered me a lot, but I allow it because of what I learned.
My dck's were turning everything into guns...food, legos, fingers, sticks, pieces of fluff...everything. No matter how much I tried to stop it, they did it every chance they got.
The research said that trying to stop the gun play may teach them to become deceptive, eg. when you catch them playing "guns", the gun becomes a telephone.

I wouldn't allow a gun that looks like a gun, meaning anything that could possibly be mistaken for a real gun, so it's legos and crackers for my dck's.
The research shows that (God forbid) a child finding a real gun will want to pick it up, whether or not they've been exposed to guns or gun play.

Those are just a couple of points that stood out for me. There were many more.

I don't allow them to shoot at each other or at animals, and if someone behaves like they're angry, the play is over.

I certainly understand and respect everyone's opinion and decisions about this, but this is how I feel about it after spending DAYS checking out the information available.

I'm interested in this. Could you site the research that made the difference in your thinking?

I don't have ANY problem with gun play. NONE of my kids play it at all ever but I'm interested in what RESEARCH you found that changed your mind.

[AnythingsPossible]

I would be curious how many of our husbands, brothers, fathers, grandfathers and so on played gun play and wrestled and fought with their buddies growing up. I would be willing to wager a fine majority of them did and yet they managed to grow up and not be deranged citizens. Sometimes I think to much is put on things being inappropriate. Boys have played this way for ages. I don't think it has inadvertently affected their development.
I vividly remember my brother and the other boys in our neighborhood picking teams and having wars with each other in the summer time. i don't think any of them grew up and shot anybody.
Yes bad things have happened with children and guns, but I personally don't believe that it is because they were allowed to play guns when they were preschoolers. I certainly hope not because my daughter bought herself a cap gun this summer. I think there has to be a middle ground somewhere.
While I do allow gun play, it isn't like my boys are constantly running around hunting up and shooting things. Occasionally that is where their minds go and when they do I allow it. We can go ages without anyone creating that play scenario, and then they do for whatever reason.
In my previous post I stated that i used to have a no gun rule because of a family issue, my husbands cousin shot himself at the very young age of 16. For quite awhile we were very adamant about no gun play what so ever, if my son made a gun out of something, hubby flipped. After a few years we stepped back and looked at it differently. His cousin didn't do what he did because he played guns when he was little. There were obviously other issues, and rather he had played guns or not, he made the choice he did.
I found the following blog post to be a good read along with the additional sources listed, give it a read if you're interested in reading more about gun play in preschool.

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/playing-guns.html

[Symphony]

I do not have any toy guns (I guess we have water guns in the summer...) but I do allow gun play with limits. We live in an area where hunting is a HUGE, very prominent part of our culture. I know four of my families do not eat any meat that dad didn't go out and get himself. It is a year round commitment made by the hunters. The main economy where we live is ranching. Ranching is not always the most peaceful lifestyle either. The kids are exposed to this really early as well.

So most of my kids have this in their homes and it is a big part of their lives. Hunting and ranching put food on their tables and roofs over their heads. When my kids want to play hunting I allow it without batting an eye. I would feel I was disrespecting their families and our community if I didn't. However, I do NOT allow other types of gun play, and we never point at people or the animals who live here.

[Luna]

I'm interested in this. Could you site the research that made the difference in your thinking?

I don't have ANY problem with gun play. NONE of my kids play it at all ever but I'm interested in what RESEARCH you found that changed your mind.

Nannyde, I read for days, following one link after another. Here is the one that got me interested:

http://www.richlearningopportunities.co.uk/pdf/bang%20bang%20gun%20play%20and%20why%20children%20need%20it.pdf

I know, it isn't RESEARCH, it's an article. I'm just saying it led me on a search for more information.

ETA: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11389238

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11943968