So, my 4yo has taking to shooting things mimicking guns / noises and says he’s going to “pill” monsters ( he must have heard it wrong).

What does a responsible dad do. Ignore it? Or should I discourage it? Seems to I played with toy guns / soldiers when young and yet i am not a felon.

What did / do you do? No need to be worried is there?

just let it run. it’s part of playground role-playing gleaned from TV and re-enacted.

Stoner Jr does think that burglars are allowed to be shot though ….

Join in.

Stoner – take care on Christmas Eve.

A fine line between

and

Or just accept that it’s a game. Responsible use of guns can also be a good way to learn about rules and discipline. Target shooting, clays etc. Though at 4 probably a bit early.

I grew up with every farmers lad owning an air rifle and we never shot each other.

My dad took me shooting with real guns when I was a kid (he was a police firearms officer at the time). I think it’s more about whether he’s just playing or developing an unhealthy fixation. Let it happen as I’d imagine he’ll be more puzzled about you coming down hard on his current toy interest.

Buy a shed load of Nerf Guns and make war

Particularly good when your partner is trying to have a serious conversation and you have to dive for cover 😀

If he starts kneecapping his teddy bears then you might want to have a chat.

Get a grip man, did you never play cowboys/indians when you were a kid?

Im saving up for a laser quest set. Then Stoners Jr and I are going to spend our days skirmishing in the coppice.

I will be found in the tree house sniper’s nest with a bottle of scotch and Barber’s Adagio for Strings on repeat 😀

Never did Pac-man any harm.

Our 3 year old is forever talking about ‘killing’ monsters/baddies!!
We try to discourage the idea of killing, and encourage ‘zapping’!!

Anyhow – there was a good article in the Telegraph by an ‘earth mother’ type person who openly admitted that despite ‘hiding’ the notion of guns and weapons from her kids, once they picked up a gun-shaped stick they knew exactly what to do with it, and were off shooting one another….

Worryingly, perhaps it’s human nature to want to main one another?!

DrP

I believe the season runs from late March until early June and you’ll need a licence.

Anyhow – there was a good article in the Telegraph by an ‘earth mother’ type person who openly admitted that despite ‘hiding’ the notion of guns and weapons from her kids, once they picked up a gun-shaped stick they knew exactly what to do with it, and were off shooting one another….

I get that feeling if trapped near an earth mother type for too long, I normally just swot them with a copy of the gaurdian

And who can honestly say they’ve never wandered down a dark alley/corridor, quietly cocked their twin ‘finger pistols’, and envisaged a matrix-style shootout taking place…..

Nope..just me then….

DrP

Perfectly normal (as the father of two boys). The BIG question is of course, does he have a pump action or semi-automatic stick? I think we should be told.

And get some Nerf guns. But ignore the big ones, the most powerful we have is the smallest.

My little girls do this too (3 yrs old) – but with knives rather than guns. At the moment they keep chopping up dinosaurs.

Can’t say that worrying about it has ever crossed my mind.

I wouldn’t sweat if too much but it would bee a good time to gently confiscate the guns and teach them the importance of talking through their differences and reaching a compromise for sharing stuff.

@ Mikewsmith

A fine line between…

Er yeah right. The kid in the bottom picture chose to pick up the gun – nothing to do with coercion, brutal life experiences, brain washing, lack of any regulation/law.

I don’t think the OP’s talking about real guns so no need to enrol in the shooting club any time soon. I’d hazard a guess there’s a significant gulf between the percentage of kids who played with toy guns and the percentage who actually go on to hold or use a real gun (safely or otherwise) in adult life. So play away!!

My friends who are very anti guns and encouraged gender neutral play in their kids were distressed to find the 1st things they made with their lego set were a pair of pistols.

but with knives rather than guns

pros.
*nods sagely*

wouldn’t sweat if too much but it would bee a good time to gently confiscate the guns and teach them the importance of talking through their differences and reaching a compromise for sharing stuff.

you’ve changed man. You’ve changed.
It use to all be about the killin’…

@scuttler – I can never find the ironic font in here….

It’s next to The Edinburgh Defence Smiley, mike.

cheers Stoner,

found it

I grew up around guns and shot from a very early age (supervised and then when legal unsupervised) and I’m the sanest most rounded individual I know. 🙂

Safety was drummed into me and I knew this off by heart:

If a sportsman true you’d be
Listen carefully to me. . .

Never, never let your gun
Pointed be at anyone.
That it may unloaded be
Matters not the least to me.

When a hedge or fence you cross
Though of time it cause a loss
From your gun the cartridge take
For the greater safety’s sake.

If twixt you and neighbouring gun
Bird shall fly or beast may run
Let this maxim ere be thine
“Follow not across the line.”

Stops and beaters oft unseen
Lurk behind some leafy screen.
Calm and steady always be
“Never shoot where you can’t see.”

You may kill or you may miss
But at all times think this:
“All the pheasants ever bred
Won’t repay for one man dead.”

Keep your place and silent be;
Game can hear, and game can see;
Don’t be greedy, better spared
Is a pheasant, than one shared.
 
So my old man was happy for me to walk behind him with a loaded (but broken) gun as a young teenager because he knew I was a safe shooter.

I find people who were familiar with the safe use of firearms at an early age don’t have that worrying obsession that ‘enthusiasts’ develop when they had a go with a 303 in army cadets with all the testosterone bravado that goes with it. I’m sure people who shoot will know exactly the type of person I mean, always bragging about what they have shot (the bigger and more outlandish gun the better)
It’s not legal firearms users that scare me, it’s the gaurdian reading earth mothers with their misguided head cocked to one sided concern and the lack of funding for the mental health services that worry me more.

@mikewsmith.

Sorry dude. I reread your post about 4 times and came to the wrong conclusion which with hindsight is pretty bleedin obvious.

When you find ironicsans 50pt send it over will ya. 😉

DrP – Member
And who can honestly say they’ve never wandered down a dark alley/corridor, quietly cocked their twin ‘finger pistols’, and envisaged a matrix-style shootout taking place…..

Nope..just me then….

Yeah just you. For me it’s more of a slow-motion, Spaced style shoot out.

My 5 years old is obsessed with shooting things… never with toy guns though, just his fingers. Apparently if he saw a robber he’d shoot his eye out. Or shoot him in the peanuts.

Loves his toy lightsabers too.

I grew up around guns and shot from a very early age (supervised and then when legal unsupervised) and I’m the sanest most rounded individual I know.

Safety was drummed into me and I knew this off by heart

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

(in best Pvt. Pyle going postal voice)

i am not a felon

🙂

…or an American.

Op – why worry? I am more worried that you may be worried!! 😉

Lol! lets not go overboard;

I don’t think the OP’s talking about real guns

no, I’m talking about fingers and a toy/fake Blackberry-alike dinosaur phone which fires an object at dinosaurs.

Like I said, I never turned into a mass murderer after playing “army” and toy soldiers for years…..

I guess society has highlighted gun issues though, and over the weekend 2 teenagers where shot in London so…..

Probably a bit young for paintball but is he old enough for Laser Quest yet?

i had a real fasination with playing at war (running round with arms held oddly making a noise like a dodgy motor car) then playing with toy soldiers then wargaming (playing with toy soldiers when old enouth to think you need an excuse to stave off embarresment) i grew up to be reasonably anti war very much not wanting to join the army and totaly in favour of gun control.

i live in an area where gun crime has been an issue though and i would not want my son playing out with a realistic toy gun.

In a world where guns and war are glamourised its hard to avoid water pistols, cowboys and indians, Lazer quest, paintballing etc?

Are all the people who do the above mass murderers?

OK, fanatics of the last two are frequently total wierdos, so that might be more of a cause for worry IMHO

Are you mastiles-fanylions new log on?

Mr Mule Senior taught me to shoot when I was seven.

So far I have managed not to kill anybody, or commit any firearms offences.

Of course, if I had had a gun this morning then things may have turned out very differently for the girl with the stupidly loud ipod blaring out on the bus on my way to work… 😈

Bar the infrequent times I’ve been paintballing and my one very lame attempt at clay pigeon shooting I don’t think I’ve shot a gun as an adult.

Rewind 20 years and I’d often be found hanging out of a mates bedroom window shooting rats on his farm and if they were scarce my mates Dad’s pants hanging on the washing line became fair game.

I wouldn’t worry too much.

i live in an area where gun crime has been an issue though and i would not want my son playing out with a realistic toy gun.

Damn right. He needs a MAC-10.

Thanks for sharing the information with us. Childrens are very talented.

Op – why worry? I am more worried that you may be worried!!

I’m worried that you are now worried about the fact the Op is worried abut his kids playing with toy guns.