The Captain was off today, so we took the girls to the park. The Big One was having a great time playing with some girls around her age. All the kids were playing peacefully until a group of three older boys came along. They all had toy guns and were running around pretending to shoot each other and the other kids. One of the boys pointed his gun at a girl playing quietly with her barbie. She wasn't too thrilled with having a gun (even if it was a toy) pointed at her and threw her barbie at him. She had great aim and hit him right between the eyes. Her mother immediately scolded her for her actions and told her to apologize to the boy. The Captain, seeing what had happened, explained to the mother why the Barbie was thrown. The mother understood and the girl no longer had to apologize.
I am not one to judge another. What works in my family may not work in yours. However, I feel that a playground full of children is not the place for a bunch of toy guns. And while I get that boys will be boys and may pick up a stick and pretend, at some point we as parents have to teach our children respect for others. Pointing a gun (pretend or not) in another's face is disrespectful.
While growing up I played cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, but was always instructed to never point any object, including my finger in someone's face and I am teaching my daughter the same. And while there are no toy guns in my house today, I can assure you that if there were we would be teaching our children to be respectful of others when playing with them and they would be left at home during any outing. Maybe I am a prude. Maybe I feel this way because I have all girls and do not know what it is like to raise a boy.
I just think that when you take your kids to the playground- you should leave the guns at home.
What do you think?
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