S/O about boys making their own toy guns

[CactusPair]

I've have heard many, many moms say that their boys, including toddlers, will make a gun out of anything even though the parents don't provide them with toy guns.

 

Curious, and I'm being totally sincere....how do the boys know what a toy gun looks like, how it sounds, and how to point and pretend to shoot?

 

Do they somehow "just know" or have they seen them on TV, at someone else's house, in a book, or what? Is it innate or learned?

 

I do think that most boys have an innate interest in pursuit, fighting, hunting and overcoming the bad, etc. It is part of the male psyche and I think it's healthy for kids to act these feelings out and make sense of them through play. My question is specifically about toy guns.

 

What did boys do before there were guns in the world historically and toy guns? Did they still make their fingers into that gun shape or did they act out a spear or rock or what?

 

My ds used to make toy cars out of toast crusts when he was a toddler and make car noises in the high chair. He'd make a car out of anything. But he had a model to imitate.

 

He has never pretended to make a gun, even with his fingers and he's almost 10 years old. I've often wondered about it. We don't give toy guns to play with, even in the playmobil sets (we remove them). He was quite old when he first saw one on the playmobil box and had to ask what it was.

 

He does like to play with the toy swords, mallets, chains, etc. (we're usually okay with those kinds of toys, but I don't want to get into a debate about all that stuff:)). He has no interest in guns, though, even for play hunting, which his guys do quite a bit of.

 

I've often wondered if my ds is unusual or if he didn't make toy guns simply because he didn't have a model for so long. I'd like to hear other people's experiences with this subject.

 

:bigear:

[Wyndie]

My son learned it from his friends when he was still a toddler. We intended to keep guns out of his play too but I would have had to remove him from all my friends children so we just dealt with it. We're a military gun owning family so it's inevitable really. We figure if we teach him (and his sisters) gun safety, that's best.

[rafiki]

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[dirty ethel rackham]

To tell you the truth, I am really not sure where my boys learned it. We had a no gun rule in the house. We watched very limited television (usually limited to animal shows on Discovery channel.) Almost all of the people we had regular contact with had similar ideals in their homes. Perhaps they learned from a cousin he saw 2 or 3 times a year or from one of dh's favorite Looney Tunes cartoon (we have several of the classics on tape, but never did the traditional Saturday Morning cartoons.) So, basically, although my kids may have had some exposure to weapons, it was VERY minute. My oldest was not terribly interested in guns, but swordplay. My middle son, by age two, was making guns out of his toast, linking cubes math manipulatives, duplos, you name it. At first I was appalled, but my like-minded experienced-mom friends told me to lighten up - that I was doing all the right things and this was normal. I don't think kids have to be immersed in violent images - just a few benign exposures can trigger that kind of play in many boys.

[SonshineLearner]

My brother's friend always wanted a gun. His dad worked during Vietnam as a "Secretary" because he couldn't bring himself to "do war". Well, when this child was a few years old, he started asking for a play gun. His parents were really against him having one. He finally asked if he was allowed to pray for a gun. They both said yes, that if he found a play gun, he could have it. A couple of weeks later they were cleaning under a bush, that they had cleaned out under many times...and ....guess what David found?? A gun.... And...well...he's still a nice guy....and all grown up now...but that's how he acquired a gun....25 + years ago!

Carrie:-)

[Cricket]

My friend used to work at a preschool. There was a no-gun rule. She said the boys would still bite their pb&j sandwiches into gun-shapes and pretend to shoot with them. lol I bet before guns boys would do a lot of sword play. I think most boys want to play the hero and "get the bad guys". I don't think that is a bad thing. We've always had guns. When our oldest was about 5 or 6 he started going on duck hunting trips with dh. Obviously he wouldn't shoot anything, but he was exposed to guns. He has his own BB gun now and sometimes will target practice.

[Cheryl in NM]

Even though we are gun owners I decided to experiment when ds was a baby. I decided not to buy any toy guns to see if he would make them out of things and he did. Of course, looking back now, I realize that Daddy used to watch a lot of westerns when he was in charge of ds and I was working. Mystery solved. He must have seen them on tv. That said, I still didn't buy guns because I wanted him to use his imagination. When he was about4 I gave in and bought some water guns, then in another few years I bought some nerf guns. When ds was about 7 he was able to have his first toy gun, a rifle! He loved it and went outside to "hunt". By this time he had been shooting with us and knew gun safety, the damage a gun can do, how a real gun kicks when you shoot it. So buy the time he got his first "real" toy gun he knew what they were for and was ready to hunt some birds and rabbits!

[Tree House Academy]

We start our kids out learning how to handle a toy gun. At 2 or 3, they are allowed to have toy guns and they learn to hold them a certain way, how to insert the clip and take it out, how to never point it at people. The consequences are strict even at that age for purposefully pointing a gun at someone. When my dh shoots, we take the kids and they watch him. By the age of 5 or 6, they get to shoot at targets, if they are interested (so far, both of mine really enjoy shooting). My younger still uses a BB gun and my older will use a .22 and smaller caliber.

 

As for toys, my kids make them out of legos, paper, whatever they can get their hands on. When you decide to own guns, you take the responsibility of teaching your kids what they need to know to live in a home with guns.

[Carrie12345]

No clue where my kids (boys AND girls) picked it up. We had a no-gun-toys rule until fairly recently. They never watched anything other than commercial-free Noggin until a year or two ago. Only 1 of my 4 has ever been to "regular school", and he isn't nearly as big on pretend guns as my girls are.

 

And guess what I hear them doing right now? :confused:

[elise1mds]

I have no idea where my son picked it up, either. I had no mom friends when he was little, so he had pretty much no playmates till he was 2 1/2, and even then we hung out with moms of kids who had similar backgrounds. Our TV was entirely PBS or uber-G-rated movies (Bear in the Big Blue House, Thomas movies, etc.) And yet I'll never forget the day he came out with a pretend knife and acted like he was chasing a bad guy with it. It surprised me. Within a week, he had started pretending that his "magic wand" was a sword. A few weeks after that, the magic wand was being used to "throw" things at the bad guys - things that could injure them from a distance. More like a cannon than anything else, I suppose. He didn't really move on to guns specifically until he discovered them at my dad's pawn shop and wanted to know what they did, though obviously his play was close.

[Erica in OR]

School, friend, and family influences aside, I know when we visit the toy aisle at any store such as WalMart, Fred Meyer, or larger store such as Toys 'r Us, my kids see guns. Cap guns, cowboy-style replica guns, squirt guns, guns whose only purpose is to make very loud noises, among other weapons.

 

Erica in OR