Gun play

[theatokos]

This is a post for all those born male and for mothers of males.

If you are a male, did you play with guns? Did you turn non-gun items into imaginary guns? Do you think this is something innate in males? If not, where did you learn this behaviour from? As an adult male now do you have any parenting perspectives on this, or advice for the new mama of a male?

For mothers of males, do your sons play with guns or have gun play? If so, at what age did this start? Does this bother you? If so, how do you discourage this? Any thoughts for a new mama?

Comments

[chiv.livejournal.com]

Cartoons. Specifically Transformers, Thundercats and Ulyssees 31.

I was frankly more likely to turn a broom handle into a quarterstaff than I was a to make a gun and at least with toy/pretend guns you're unlikely to [accidentally] brain your best friend.

Not being a parent I have to be very careful about what I say here and it's one of the reasons I don't post to these topics very often.

However a word of warning be careful just how much your fear of guns and violencse ostracises him from his friends and peers. I have no doubt that he will be aware that guns are bad and violence is bad bt will still want to get mixed up in make believe games of heroes and villains of whatever genre.
I have a big problem with any parent who will see their kids acting out pretend fights and immediately wading into the fray and pulling their kid out of it. I was a frequent victim of that, my mum or dad puling me out of a game when they thought it was getting too involved. It got to the point where I just didn't bother getting into these games as inevitably I'd get into trouble be it immediately or after school when my brother had grassed me up. It led to a lot of lonely recesses and a lot of bullying which in turn, I'm sure, led me to becoming more violent when I actually decided to fight back against the bullies.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I value your opinion here, even if you're not a parent! Never having been a boy I know there are bound to be times when I just won't "get it" when raising Bennett. Of course, he could grow up to be a show tune singing diva, who knows?

I plan to be pretty involved in what my kid/s watch and read. More so about the watching. We don't own a tv, but love media - my issue is often with the advertising! Right now that's more avoidable. I hope to encourage dialog - although I'm a hot head about feminist issues, so no doubt I'll traumatize B with that.

I was a girl that LOVED/S to hit people. Sadly, I was a bully to my little sister. I think some of us are just born more volatile than others, male or female - boys are just encouraged and allowed more than girls. I asked these questions of our male nanny and he also said that he struggled with his parents getting too involved in the fun play and his socialising. Even though he wasn't keen on it, sometimes you just needed to play what your friends wanted to play! This is good information.

I also know that I can't (and I don't want to) control everything in my son's life. But this seems particularly tricky to me.