Sunday, January 13, 2013

Are you trying to keep toy guns away from your sons?

AP file photo

Paula Dvorak of the Washington Post writes that toy guns can be good for kids. She has boys who are shooting Nerfs while she is writing her column.

In his book "Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Superheroes and Make-Believe Violence," Gerard Jones argues that boys especially, since they won't be out hunting mastodons with dad, need ways to act out power and victory and triumph.

After all, the options we give them today — games in which every child is a winner — don't afford the alpha and omega of the human experience.

Dvorak learned the hard way.

Yup. I quickly learned that taking away the guns, forbidding any cartoons that show guns and never introducing my sons to violent video games resulted in two little boys who chewed their toast into L shapes and shot one another.

And how could I possibly ban the big, plastic, orange and yellow Nerf guns without a nod to my old Slavia 631 air rifle? I was 6 when my dad first taught me how to shoot it and 7 when I had permission to get it out of the closet and shoot it anytime I wanted to. I spent hours in the backyard, hands greasy from the .177 Crosman pellets my dad taught me to oil and hold between my teeth while I broke the barrel to load, shooting at cans and paper targets.

So far, I haven't shot anyone.

Maybe we can teach the boys to shoot it the next time we visit my parents.

Read more: Dvorak: Toy guns can be good for kids - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_22351392/toy-guns-can-be-good-kids#ixzz2HsjKjQyl

1 comment:

Bob's Blog said...

Hi Jake,
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I will tell my sons about your website.