Shakin Bones Time: During times when adults are fearful they often resort to tightening experiences with young children. Creating Zero Tolerance policies, telling children that pretend gunplay hurts people's feelings, forbidding gunplay at all.
Children Process the Violence Around Them Through Play.
Adults talk about their fears, children act upon their fears, worries, anxieties, anger and powerlessness through dramatic play. Children will want to pretend killing games as soon as they learn about killing in the real world.
"There's no scientific evidence suggesting that playing gun and/or war games in childhood leads to real-life aggression."
Playing gunplay is not practicing to be a killer but acquiring POWER. Avoid purchasing play guns; they can
turn sticks, tubes, blocks and even toast into guns.
If You are going to ban this type of play what will you replace it with that is just as POWERFUL?
Avoid turning Gun Play into a Moral Issue. Statements like, “We don’t shoot our friends”; “Guns hurt people”; “Lets play something nice” all reflect a higher understanding than young children have. It is a developmental practice for young children.
This concept did not come easy for me. I am a pacifist. After reading the research and observing children gunplay is essential…
