Toy Weapons
Kasey
Well it seems that around here( my town) the issue of violence and toy weapons is amongst us.. I am having a hard time understanding why parents do not let their kids play with toy weapons like swords, light sabers and what not. Is there any credible evidence relating the two?? I have 2 boys whom love star wars and pretend fighting and rune scape (online game)and they are having a hard time playing with almost all of their friends lately due to the parents not allowing any sort of "violent" pretending. Now my boys have gotten into spiffs with each other and there have been some minor injuries due to hands getting hit with light sabers.. But just do not get it..
Thanks for listening...
Kasey
Thanks for listening...
Kasey
lalow66
"
I remember noticing some of that when my boys were a little younger, now it seems like most of their friends families have loosened up (my oldest two are 7 and 8). There was a time I was kind of determined not to have toy guns and then when my oldest was 3, he saw a flair gun on a movie and the next day built one out of legos to shoot pretend bad animals. He didnt even know the word gun.. he called it a shooting thing.
I havnt experienced to many people against lightsabers and swords.. just guns. I believe they think by playing with them their kids will be more violent.
> Well it seems that around here( my town) the issue of violence and toy weapons is amongst us.. I am having a hard time understanding why parents do not let their kids play with toy weapons like swords, light sabers and what not. Is there any credible evidence relating the two?? I have 2 boys whom love star wars and pretend fighting and rune scape (online game)and they are having a hard time playing with almost all of their friends lately due to the parents not allowing any sort of "violent" pretending. Now my boys have gotten into spiffs with each other and there have been some minor injuries due to hands getting hit with light sabers.. But just do not get it.."
>
> Thanks for listening...
>
> Kasey
I remember noticing some of that when my boys were a little younger, now it seems like most of their friends families have loosened up (my oldest two are 7 and 8). There was a time I was kind of determined not to have toy guns and then when my oldest was 3, he saw a flair gun on a movie and the next day built one out of legos to shoot pretend bad animals. He didnt even know the word gun.. he called it a shooting thing.
I havnt experienced to many people against lightsabers and swords.. just guns. I believe they think by playing with them their kids will be more violent.
Laura Wray
On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 8:58 AM, lalow66 wrote:<snip> when my oldest was 3,
he saw a flair gun on a movie and the next day built one out of legos to
shoot pretend bad animals. He didnt even know the word gun.. he called it a
shooting thing. <unsnip>
My oldest did the same thing, but not because of a movie or tv show that
he'd seen. He was about 3-1/2 at the time, didn't have any toy guns yet, and
in the course of playing created a gun, and then ran around thrusting it at
things and making "pew" noises. LOL He hadn't seen any of our handguns at
that point, nor had he seen any in the shows he watched. Where he got the
idea to make this, I don't know. He's since had squirt guns, Star Wars guns
and lightsabers, fought with boffer swords in the SCA, has a growing Nerf
gun collection, and gone shooting with his grandpa, grandpa's ex-treasury
agent friend, and his dad. Grandpa said he was a remarkably good shot
considering he'd never shooting before.
When he was younger, in deference to the many people out there that don't
want their children "exposed to violence", I used to make sure that Craig
asked if the kids wanted to play guns, or whatever, so they could opt out if
it made them uncomfortable. A couple did, but most didn't, and they ran
around happily playing. I don't get why so many people have the assumption
that playing guns will make kids violent. As our two kids have obviously
made us aware, even if they don't have any of their own, they'll come up
with a way to make a toy gun of their own. :D
Laura W
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he saw a flair gun on a movie and the next day built one out of legos to
shoot pretend bad animals. He didnt even know the word gun.. he called it a
shooting thing. <unsnip>
My oldest did the same thing, but not because of a movie or tv show that
he'd seen. He was about 3-1/2 at the time, didn't have any toy guns yet, and
in the course of playing created a gun, and then ran around thrusting it at
things and making "pew" noises. LOL He hadn't seen any of our handguns at
that point, nor had he seen any in the shows he watched. Where he got the
idea to make this, I don't know. He's since had squirt guns, Star Wars guns
and lightsabers, fought with boffer swords in the SCA, has a growing Nerf
gun collection, and gone shooting with his grandpa, grandpa's ex-treasury
agent friend, and his dad. Grandpa said he was a remarkably good shot
considering he'd never shooting before.
When he was younger, in deference to the many people out there that don't
want their children "exposed to violence", I used to make sure that Craig
asked if the kids wanted to play guns, or whatever, so they could opt out if
it made them uncomfortable. A couple did, but most didn't, and they ran
around happily playing. I don't get why so many people have the assumption
that playing guns will make kids violent. As our two kids have obviously
made us aware, even if they don't have any of their own, they'll come up
with a way to make a toy gun of their own. :D
Laura W
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Mary Whited
>and swords. My husband has been a Star Wars fan and collector since he was 6
> >>I havnt experienced to many people against lightsabers and swords.. just
> guns. I believe they >>think by playing with them their kids will be more
> violent.
>
> This is a very hard one for me to let go of. Yes, my boys love lightsabers
and saw the first one at the drive-in. To not be 'ok' with lightsabers just
wouldn't work here.
But guns? I still such a hard time with that. I know it is my thing to
overcome, but that knowledge hasn't helped me any thus far.
My abusive, alcoholic step-father had a handgun. Bad combo. I have many very
bad childhood memories of that gun pointed at my mother, my siblings or
myself. It is very hard to get past that memory...of a gun about 2 inches
from my nose, cocked, because he wanted my mother to do something. Another
memory is when he used the gun to shoot all the ornaments off our christmas
tree.
I realize that the issue is not the gun he had but the stupid, irrational,
abusive, horrible way he used it to terrorize all of us.
But all those realizations have yet to help me. I still just quake at the
idea of my children playing with guns of any type.
Mary
> __._,_.__[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
keetry
== Well it seems that around here( my town) the issue of violence and toy weapons is amongst us.. I am having a hard time understanding why parents do not let their kids play with toy weapons like swords, light sabers and what not. Is there any credible evidence relating the two??==
Any credible evidence relating the two what, violence and toy weapons? Well, if you think playing with toy weapons is violent in and of itself, then yes. If you are wondering if playing with toy weapons leads to real and serious violent tendencies in older children, I haven't seen anything to directly support that. The thing is that children will find ways to play these "violent" games with or without the toys. Sticks, fingers, just about anything can become a weapon in a child's imagination. My 6yo just yesterday was using a plastic cross that was part of my husband's Halloween costume as a knife for fighting.
Frankly, having 3 boys, I get very angry at this way of thinking. It's basically telling boys that their natural male instincts are bad. Males have evolved to be hunters and warriors and to deny that part of them is to say their very being is wrong or bad. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what makes boys violent.
Alysia
Any credible evidence relating the two what, violence and toy weapons? Well, if you think playing with toy weapons is violent in and of itself, then yes. If you are wondering if playing with toy weapons leads to real and serious violent tendencies in older children, I haven't seen anything to directly support that. The thing is that children will find ways to play these "violent" games with or without the toys. Sticks, fingers, just about anything can become a weapon in a child's imagination. My 6yo just yesterday was using a plastic cross that was part of my husband's Halloween costume as a knife for fighting.
Frankly, having 3 boys, I get very angry at this way of thinking. It's basically telling boys that their natural male instincts are bad. Males have evolved to be hunters and warriors and to deny that part of them is to say their very being is wrong or bad. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what makes boys violent.
Alysia
Pam Sorooshian
On 4/28/2010 8:54 AM, keetry wrote:
We had our own, even with three girls, but he was like a different kid
when he had his weapons with him versus when he checked them at the
door. When he had his weapons (they varied) with him, the other kids
constantly complained about him - he wouldn't cooperate in whatever
games they were trying to play - whether they were board games or
playing pretend or whatever, he'd just keep brandishing the weapons at
people. When we made a policy of checking weapons at the door, he was
fine and they liked having him play with them. But one day the kid
forgot to take his weapons with him when he went home and his father
came back to collect them and found out about how I didn't allow them
into the house. The father hit the roof - he yelled at me about how I
didn't understand boys.
At our park days, there was a boy who brought a big huge box - almost as
big as he was - of all kinds of cool weapons - mostly swords, but also
wooden rifles, all kinds of things. He'd drag it over and the kids would
all dig in and it was really the source of all kinds of great pretend
play - hours and hours and hours of it. The difference? Partly, of
course, being outdoors in a park - a very different environment from
playing in my daughter's bedroom. But a bigger difference was in the
kids themselves. The weapons that the neighbor boy had were specific to
certain characters - tv shows or movies- and he only pretended to be
that character when he had that weapon.- he wasn't into making up
elaborate stories and characters, he just blasted away at people and
interfered with everything the other kids tried to set up. The
homeschooled kids at the park day used the weapons as props in their
very imaginative games.
I liked when the weapons were brought to our park day. Those parents who
were horrified, wouldn't come back and they were not the best fit for
our park day, anyway, so it was kind of a good filter.
On the other hand, when we went other places with people who objected
to: toy weapons, bare feet, sugar, plastic water bottles, fast food, and
I'm sure there are other things, we just accommodated to them without
giving it much thought.
-pam
> Frankly, having 3 boys, I get very angry at this way of thinking. It'sI wouldn't let our neighbor - a boy - bring his weapons into my house.
> basically telling boys that their natural male instincts are bad.
> Males have evolved to be hunters and warriors and to deny that part of
> them is to say their very being is wrong or bad. I wouldn't be
> surprised if that's what makes boys violent.
We had our own, even with three girls, but he was like a different kid
when he had his weapons with him versus when he checked them at the
door. When he had his weapons (they varied) with him, the other kids
constantly complained about him - he wouldn't cooperate in whatever
games they were trying to play - whether they were board games or
playing pretend or whatever, he'd just keep brandishing the weapons at
people. When we made a policy of checking weapons at the door, he was
fine and they liked having him play with them. But one day the kid
forgot to take his weapons with him when he went home and his father
came back to collect them and found out about how I didn't allow them
into the house. The father hit the roof - he yelled at me about how I
didn't understand boys.
At our park days, there was a boy who brought a big huge box - almost as
big as he was - of all kinds of cool weapons - mostly swords, but also
wooden rifles, all kinds of things. He'd drag it over and the kids would
all dig in and it was really the source of all kinds of great pretend
play - hours and hours and hours of it. The difference? Partly, of
course, being outdoors in a park - a very different environment from
playing in my daughter's bedroom. But a bigger difference was in the
kids themselves. The weapons that the neighbor boy had were specific to
certain characters - tv shows or movies- and he only pretended to be
that character when he had that weapon.- he wasn't into making up
elaborate stories and characters, he just blasted away at people and
interfered with everything the other kids tried to set up. The
homeschooled kids at the park day used the weapons as props in their
very imaginative games.
I liked when the weapons were brought to our park day. Those parents who
were horrified, wouldn't come back and they were not the best fit for
our park day, anyway, so it was kind of a good filter.
On the other hand, when we went other places with people who objected
to: toy weapons, bare feet, sugar, plastic water bottles, fast food, and
I'm sure there are other things, we just accommodated to them without
giving it much thought.
-pam
Sandra Dodd
I agree with this:
-=-Frankly, having 3 boys, I get very angry at this way of thinking.
It's basically telling boys that their natural male instincts are bad.
Males have evolved to be hunters and warriors and to deny that part of
them is to say their very being is wrong or bad. I wouldn't be
surprised if that's what makes boys violent.-=-
Various cultures have had a backlash against boys being raised by
women. Ours probably will have too, here, pretty soon because it's
getting way too much to the girly side in the past few decades.
It's not just mothers, though, it's school too. Too girly, and
enforced on young men who are six feet tall and have beards and
moustaches!? (and the equivalent marks of manhood elswhere)
Dangerous.
http://sandradodd.com/peace/guns
Sandra
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-=-Frankly, having 3 boys, I get very angry at this way of thinking.
It's basically telling boys that their natural male instincts are bad.
Males have evolved to be hunters and warriors and to deny that part of
them is to say their very being is wrong or bad. I wouldn't be
surprised if that's what makes boys violent.-=-
Various cultures have had a backlash against boys being raised by
women. Ours probably will have too, here, pretty soon because it's
getting way too much to the girly side in the past few decades.
It's not just mothers, though, it's school too. Too girly, and
enforced on young men who are six feet tall and have beards and
moustaches!? (and the equivalent marks of manhood elswhere)
Dangerous.
http://sandradodd.com/peace/guns
Sandra
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Sandra Dodd
-=-But one day the kid
forgot to take his weapons with him when he went home and his father
came back to collect them and found out about how I didn't allow them
into the house. The father hit the roof - he yelled at me about how I
didn't understand boys.-=-
I'm guessing your girls hadn't been spending equal/reciprocal time at
the boy's house. So you were providing free childcare in your home
for that family, to some extent.
Sheesh. The dad must've had a terrible day at work that day or
something.
Sandra
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forgot to take his weapons with him when he went home and his father
came back to collect them and found out about how I didn't allow them
into the house. The father hit the roof - he yelled at me about how I
didn't understand boys.-=-
I'm guessing your girls hadn't been spending equal/reciprocal time at
the boy's house. So you were providing free childcare in your home
for that family, to some extent.
Sheesh. The dad must've had a terrible day at work that day or
something.
Sandra
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Sandra Dodd
-=I realize that the issue is not the gun he had but the stupid,
irrational,
abusive, horrible way he used it to terrorize all of us.
-=-But all those realizations have yet to help me. I still just quake
at the
idea of my children playing with guns of any type.-=-
I think you should go to a counsellor specifically to discuss that,
for someone to help you get clear that it wasn't the gun, it was the
asshole HOLDING the gun that was your problem. An abusive man without
a gun can still threaten and frighten women and children.
If you keep your boys from playing with guns now, your stepfather is
messing up their lives too.
Sandra
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irrational,
abusive, horrible way he used it to terrorize all of us.
-=-But all those realizations have yet to help me. I still just quake
at the
idea of my children playing with guns of any type.-=-
I think you should go to a counsellor specifically to discuss that,
for someone to help you get clear that it wasn't the gun, it was the
asshole HOLDING the gun that was your problem. An abusive man without
a gun can still threaten and frighten women and children.
If you keep your boys from playing with guns now, your stepfather is
messing up their lives too.
Sandra
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lalow66
--- But a bigger difference was in the
our kids absolutely love nerf guns and water guns especially and i have met a few moms that wouldnt let their kids play with water guns but would let them have other water shooting items as long as they didnt look like guns.. seemed a little too complicated to me.
> kids themselves. The weapons that the neighbor boy had were specific towe have done that before as well. brought all kinds of lightsabers and swords especially to park days. we dont have enough guns to really share with everybody but at one point we had ALOT of lightsabers and swords.
> certain characters - tv shows or movies- and he only pretended to be
> that character when he had that weapon.- he wasn't into making up
> elaborate stories and characters, he just blasted away at people and
> interfered with everything the other kids tried to set up. The
> homeschooled kids at the park day used the weapons as props in their
> very imaginative games.
>
> I liked when the weapons were brought to our park day. Those parents who
> were horrified, wouldn't come back and they were not the best fit for
> our park day, anyway, so it was kind of a good filter.
our kids absolutely love nerf guns and water guns especially and i have met a few moms that wouldnt let their kids play with water guns but would let them have other water shooting items as long as they didnt look like guns.. seemed a little too complicated to me.
Jenny Cyphers
***I realize that the issue is not the gun he had but the stupid, irrational,
abusive, horrible way he used it to terrorize all of us.
But all those realizations have yet to help me. I still just quake at the
idea of my children playing with guns of any type.***
It could be very healing to see your children use guns in play, in a happy way. They may just show you another way of being with guns. Perhaps the connection of guns and evil step father will be replaced with toy guns and joyful children. I'm sorry you ever experienced that!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
abusive, horrible way he used it to terrorize all of us.
But all those realizations have yet to help me. I still just quake at the
idea of my children playing with guns of any type.***
It could be very healing to see your children use guns in play, in a happy way. They may just show you another way of being with guns. Perhaps the connection of guns and evil step father will be replaced with toy guns and joyful children. I'm sorry you ever experienced that!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Joyce Fetteroll
On Apr 28, 2010, at 11:53 AM, Mary Whited wrote:
think in terms of putting an end to the legacy he left you. By
reacting to that fear, you're passing on what he gave to you. By
letting them play, you're freeing them from his influence.
Joyce
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> But all those realizations have yet to help me. I still just quakeI can see how that would be tough! Goodness. Maybe it will help to
> at the
> idea of my children playing with guns of any type.
think in terms of putting an end to the legacy he left you. By
reacting to that fear, you're passing on what he gave to you. By
letting them play, you're freeing them from his influence.
Joyce
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Lang
--we have done that before as well. brought all kinds of lightsabers and swords especially to park days. we dont have enough guns to really share with everybody but at one point we had ALOT of lightsabers and swords.
our kids absolutely love nerf guns and water guns especially and i have met a few moms that wouldnt let their kids play with water guns but would let them have other water shooting items as long as they didnt look like guns.. seemed a little too complicated to me.--
It is always going to be something with some parents. We regularly bring several bags of sand toys to park days and just plain regular visits to the park. It's a great way to meet new friends and my children love to share and play in the sand with kids of many ages. There is always some parent who doesn't want their child to play in the watery sand, or the child doesn't have any sand toys at home so they spend their time just throwing sand in everybody's faces or throwing the toys all over the park or trying to hide them or steal them. Their parents have spent so much time regulating or telling them "no" that their play is affected with baggage.
Liza in Los Angeles
our kids absolutely love nerf guns and water guns especially and i have met a few moms that wouldnt let their kids play with water guns but would let them have other water shooting items as long as they didnt look like guns.. seemed a little too complicated to me.--
It is always going to be something with some parents. We regularly bring several bags of sand toys to park days and just plain regular visits to the park. It's a great way to meet new friends and my children love to share and play in the sand with kids of many ages. There is always some parent who doesn't want their child to play in the watery sand, or the child doesn't have any sand toys at home so they spend their time just throwing sand in everybody's faces or throwing the toys all over the park or trying to hide them or steal them. Their parents have spent so much time regulating or telling them "no" that their play is affected with baggage.
Liza in Los Angeles
Vicki Dennis
Maybe too picky but this list encourages preciseness in language use.
I think it important to remember to say it is toy guns or imaginary guns
that one "plays" with. I have decades of being drilled that one does not
"play" with guns just as one never assumes that a gun is unloaded or points
any gun at anyone unless willing to harm that person.
I think both boys and girls should learn about real guns as well as toy guns
and pretend guns and when to use either.
Learning about other weapons is also a useful skill.
vicki
I think it important to remember to say it is toy guns or imaginary guns
that one "plays" with. I have decades of being drilled that one does not
"play" with guns just as one never assumes that a gun is unloaded or points
any gun at anyone unless willing to harm that person.
I think both boys and girls should learn about real guns as well as toy guns
and pretend guns and when to use either.
Learning about other weapons is also a useful skill.
vicki
On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> If you keep your boys from playing with guns now, your stepfather is
> messing up their lives too.
>
> Sandra
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Tamara Shand
This might be somewhat unrelated but the thread reminded me of a
recent experience with my 3 yo daughter - who doesn't play with guns
or lightsabres.
We went to visit my 7 & 9 yo brothers whom she hadn't seen since she
was a baby as they live far away. These two boys play really rough
though they are very loving towards each other. Rough play seems to be
a way that they can play with power, connect and blow off steam all at
the same time. My daughter was mesmerized and at one point went right
up to them while they were wrestling so she could observe them more
closely.
Later in the trip she wanted to join in and started to 'wap' the 9 yo
in the head (which I imagine looked like something she had seen them
do to each other). The rough-housing between my brothers had resulted
in tears on a number of occasions when things got too rough but in
balance it was clearly a positive form of play for these boys and
obviously of interest to my daughter.
In the situation my response was to tell her to be gentle which I
later wished had been 'not on the head' or something like that.
I imagine that props like guns or lightsabres or whatever are just
extensions of that kind of power play.
recent experience with my 3 yo daughter - who doesn't play with guns
or lightsabres.
We went to visit my 7 & 9 yo brothers whom she hadn't seen since she
was a baby as they live far away. These two boys play really rough
though they are very loving towards each other. Rough play seems to be
a way that they can play with power, connect and blow off steam all at
the same time. My daughter was mesmerized and at one point went right
up to them while they were wrestling so she could observe them more
closely.
Later in the trip she wanted to join in and started to 'wap' the 9 yo
in the head (which I imagine looked like something she had seen them
do to each other). The rough-housing between my brothers had resulted
in tears on a number of occasions when things got too rough but in
balance it was clearly a positive form of play for these boys and
obviously of interest to my daughter.
In the situation my response was to tell her to be gentle which I
later wished had been 'not on the head' or something like that.
I imagine that props like guns or lightsabres or whatever are just
extensions of that kind of power play.
Cara Barlow
>I have two daughters who have never played with toy guns. They just never
> --I think both boys and girls should learn about real guns as well as toy
> guns
> and pretend guns and when to use either.
> Learning about other weapons is also a useful skill. ---
>
expressed interest in anything like that.
This winter their dad took them and several of their friends to a four week
Saturday morning target-shooting class. They learned how to handle bows and
and 22 rifles. They really enjoyed the class, and so did my husband!
I live in an area where people hunt. We don't own guns, but we have friends
who do. I'm glad the girls know how to safely handle a rifle.
Best wishes, Cara B
> .[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
Krisula Moyer
>>>-=I realize that the issue is not the gun he had but the stupid,irrational,
abusive, horrible way he used it to terrorize all of us.
-=-But all those realizations have yet to help me. I still just quake
at the
idea of my children playing with guns of any type.-=-
I think you should go to a counsellor specifically to discuss that,
for someone to help you get clear that it wasn't the gun, it was the
asshole HOLDING the gun that was your problem. An abusive man without
a gun can still threaten and frighten women and children.
If you keep your boys from playing with guns now, your stepfather is
messing up their lives too.<<<
I too had an alcoholic, abusive step father with a gun. I remember hopping out of the car when I was 9 to step in between him and another man with a pistol. The two men were yelling at each other over a traffic situation (this was the late 70s in NYC. Apparently lots of people had guns.) I stepped between them because I thought that neither one would shoot if they saw a little girl between them. Fortunately I was right. My point is that when my son used to play guns of all sorts his play had absolutely *nothing* to do with the fear and terror of those real gun situations. He grew up safe and sound with no real violence in his experience. The pretend gun play was something entirely different for him. It was joyful and fun and the minute I recognized this, my impulse to keep the pretend guns away from him evaporated. He has played with just about every form of toy gun and sword and virtual weapon there is. He has never been interested in shooting a real gun and is personally at age 16 a pacifist in real life though he enjoys playing first person shooter - video games. If I hadn't understood this early on we would have had years of conflict over it since he was so strongly in love with that sort of play. Now that I can see how very very peaceful he grew up to be I am really glad I didn't spend those years fighting, arguing, or shaming him over it.
<<Krisula Moyer
The Seer, the novel
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keetry
> I wouldn't let our neighbor - a boy - bring his weapons into my house.We had a boy like this in our neighborhood. He moved recently. He never tried to bring them into my house. As a matter of fact, I think he might not have been allowed in other people's houses because he only came in our house a few times in the 3 years we knew him and then only for a few minutes. He mostly chased the kids outside with them threatening to chop off their heads or something like that. He obviously did not use them in the same way that the other kids used weapons, as props as you've said, but rather for seriously intimidating the other kids. I had other issues with this boy, though, so I don't think it was the fact that he had the weapons to play with. I think it was because of the way this particular kid wanted to play with them.
> We had our own, even with three girls, but he was like a different kid
> when he had his weapons with him versus when he checked them at the
> door. When he had his weapons (they varied) with him, the other kids
> constantly complained about him - he wouldn't cooperate in whatever
> games they were trying to play - whether they were board games or
> playing pretend or whatever, he'd just keep brandishing the weapons at
> people. When we made a policy of checking weapons at the door, he was
> fine and they liked having him play with them.
Alysia
keetry
> Various cultures have had a backlash against boys being raised byI have a friend who's 2nd child was a boy. She was so worried that she wouldn't know how to raise a boy. She was working out his sensitivity training before he was born. I couldn't wrap my brain around that. I really didn't understand what all the worry was about. If we take each child as an individual and respond to that, we don't have to think much about whether the child is male or female. As I'm sure everyone knows, not all boys are macho and not all girls are soft and frilly. It is dangerous if we try to suppress some natural aspect of a person's personality, which is what I think happens when parents refuse to let their children play with toy weapons. It's one more thing to feel bad about wanting to do because the parents disapprove.
> women. Ours probably will have too, here, pretty soon because it's
> getting way too much to the girly side in the past few decades.
> It's not just mothers, though, it's school too. Too girly, and
> enforced on young men who are six feet tall and have beards and
> moustaches!? (and the equivalent marks of manhood elswhere)
> Dangerous.
Alysia
Sandra Dodd
keetry
> I think both boys and girls should learn about real guns as well as toy gunsIn relation to the talk about global warming, learning to use guns and other weapons/dangerous tools could be a very useful skill in the same way learning to grow vegetables is. I used to think hunting was an unnecessary cruelty. Why do people need to go out in the forest and shoot a poor, defenseless deer when they can just go to the supermarket and buy meat? Since then I've come to think that the way cattle are raised for meat is more cruel than hunting. Several months ago I was telling my husband that I wish I knew how to hunt so I wasn't so dependent on the supermarket and the mass meat producers.
> and pretend guns and when to use either.
> Learning about other weapons is also a useful skill.
Alysia