Growing up in a family of girls, my mom never had to worry about us playing with violent games or being too rough with each other. As I have observed little boys, I decided that just as I don't want our boys to really fight, I don't want them to pretend to fight. I don't really want Abraham and his brother (assuming he'll have one) pretending to kill each other. That doesn't really sound like a fun game. Especially for the younger brother, who will most likely be the one to die. So, I've decided that we won't have toy guns or allow gun play of any kind.
We somehow have this little bag of plastic cowboys and indians in our toy basket and Abe has been playing with them. I know, I'm weak to have already given up on my goal. I excused it by telling myself that it doesn't matter now when he doesn't know they're holding guns and arrows and spears. So, imagine my pride as a mother when Abraham held up a cowboy and an indian and made them kiss each other! Now, that's more like it!
4 comments:
I'm with you on the whole no toy gun things in the house and such. But lately Peter has begun to pretend to kill his toys... at first I was flabbergasted and couldn't think of how he came up with this new game but then it hit me, we've had to kill a few giant-humidity-sized bugs recently and it's been since that. D'oh. :-S
I think that's very sweet that Abe was making them kiss each other. He's a good little boy.
Ariel, I'm sure you will be publishing peace all the time you are a mother. Bravo for you and your kissin' Abe!
I'm behind you all the way on this, babe. Unfortunately, we'll need to lock away the expansive documentation of my junior high and high school movies. Maybe we can bust 'em out when our kids have all turned 18.
I love you and your status quo thrashing.
I don't care how much you try to fight it, they WILL find some way to make a gun. Marshall has used hangers, his crib mobile, sticks, pool noodles, and even the apple peeler/corer/slicer. Granted, he has some gun/fighting paraphernalia now, thanks to my mom. Boys just gravitate to that sort of play, and it's not all bad. Two books I recommend on the subject are: The War Play Dilemma by Diane Levin and Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones. Good luck, it's an admirable goal.
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