Do you/Would you let your child play with toy guns?

[Harveysmum369]

Just wondered...


Personally I don't let Harvey-Just wondered what everyone else thought?xx

 

[Weeplin]

Yes..Jason has noisy ones and a couple of disc NERF guns. Little boys (and girls) have been playing with toy guns for generations and I'm pretty sure not all of them grew up to be cold blooded killers. I don't see the problem but like everything its each to their own.

 

[Loveya]

It's rather ironic you post this because only today was I thinking along the lines of this topic.

I work in a nursery and as a nursery worker we encourage the children not to "make" guns out of the lego and such things. I was wondering as a parent would allowing the children to play with toy guns bother you? Of course they aren't real guns but we still will NOT promote violence in any way including the children pretending to have lego guns.

I don't have any children yet but I can't say whether I would let my children play with toy guns or not. As a child I always played with toy guns and personally I turned out alright. When the time comes I'll let you know haha.

 

[v2007]

Not a fan of fake swords either.

V XXX

 

[Nats21]

I wouldn't really want callum too, I do agree that its not gonna make all the kids who play with them into violent people but i'm just not a fan of them and don't really like them.

Loveya - I worked in a nursery too and we were always told not to let the kids make toy guns too, maybe thats where it comes from xx

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

You cant really stop it. I never did but M picked it up at school and used branches as "guns!" etc

He has got Nerf gun and water gun. He likes to play "army"

 

[Floralaura]

Nope, I never have..although my eldest has nerf guns now. I wouldnt allow him to have them if they were realistic looking though.

 

[mum22ttc#3]

I'm not really sure, I have 3 girls so its never really been a question yet as they've never had an interest in them kind of toys. I'm not sure though how I would feel if I had a boy though, I think I sway more to no.

They have had and do have water pistols though, not sure if that counts, personally I don't think they do as they don't pretend to kill with them

 

[Loveya]

Loveya - I worked in a nursery too and we were always told not to let the kids make toy guns too, maybe thats where it comes from xx

It could do. Some of the kids we have no (and I mean no offence) seem like the would play with toy guns at home but alot of them I don't think their parents would let them. I guess you just have to be on the safe side incase the parents don't like it.

 

[NewMummyx]

yes it doesnt bother me, its a game to them.

Me and my siblings learned proper gun safety from a young age as my da would take us rabbit shooting. We always respected the rifle, we knew there was a major difference between the real thing and our toys

 

[twinkle1975]

I don't think I would give my children toy guns to play with but when I was training I read some research that said that little boys will always make a gun from something - lego, stickle bricks, cardboard tubes a stick etc and that it was just a phase they go through & if we leave them to it they'll grow out of it.

While I think that's probably true of most children I've also worked with some children with real agression/violence issues who make guns and then act out very violent scenes with them - but then I guess that's maybe a problem with them watching inappropriate films rather than having toy guns!

 

[nikkip75]

I have 3 girls so we don't really have guns but the 2 younger ones do love swords. Those foam ones that are really lightweight and it really doesn't bother me. I let them play fight and my 6 year old likes to pretend to be a queen and knight people My friends little boy left a thunder cats sword at mine once and my 6 year old took it to bed with her, she loved it!!

If I had boys then yes they would be allowed guns, not realistic looking ones but they could have nerf, cowboy, noisy space guns. That type of thing.

 

[smokey]

I wouldnt stop him but I made this same sort of post in discusions area ages back and there was a youtube video of a young child playing with a toy gun that scared the hell out of me, ill see if I can find it.

 

[smokey]

Here it is, there is somthing disturbing about see a young child scream die like that.
I think I would stop him if he was getting worked up and agressive like that but if he was just running around making bang bang noises then I think thats just kids playing the same sort of game they have been playing since guns where invented

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2USczC4BiT0

 

[mumandco]

Tyler used to have a gun it was a buzz lightyear one I wouldn't allow him realistic gun and he's not allowed to shoot people he's only allowed to shoot silly stuff like "trees" he somehow knew about guns long before school and before we bought him one.

Tyler and Zack also have foam swords but they use them to play pirates.

 

[rwhite]

I voted not really sure, as I don't know what my opinion fits under.

I'm not keen on realistic looking guns, don't think I'll mind futuristic type ones though, you know, the laser ones. Then again they're flipping noisy so don't know if I'll want them in the house for that reason

But in saying all this, I played with toy guns as a kid (cap guns even) and still knew that guns, real ones, were serious business I think they're okay provided the parent educates the child on the fact that guns are dangerous and not to pick up a random gun they see lying around even if they think it might be a toy

 

[Snowball]

Yes, the boys have some. They are only Buzz Lightyear/Ben10 ones... They don't look like 'real' guns iykwim? I tried to avoid it but they give them away with magazines etc. Also most water pistols are gun shaped, it's hard to escape it!

 

[Abz1982]

Yes. Emma has waterpistols and she likes watching OH play shooter games............although it was a bit eek when she said to me earlier that she better be careful in the field in case the farmer guns her dead in her head.............

 

[Jaylynne]

SS has nerd guns, foam swords that don't hurt no matter how hard you whack to play knights or pirates in and he has water guns. He knows he's not allowed to say words like "die", "kill" or "dead". I played with play guns as a kid and knew the difference. I think it's a bigger deal to make a big fuss when the child wants to play and you don't allow it so it makes the want even larger and more attractive.

 

[lousielou]

We don't have any toy guns. I don't like the thought of my child pretending to kill someone, and to be honest I don't really get why socially it's acceptable for a child to pretend to kill someone with a toy gun, but not with, say, a toy knife...?

However, despite not knowing the words 'gun' or 'shoot', my son through TV and films has still obviously been exposed to them - he sometimes makes them out of lego, or sticks he finds in the garden. He calls them his 'firers' and uses them to 'fire' people.