Boys Will Be Boys: Weapons

Weapons has been an internal ethical debate for me, since the first
time that Jas picked up a rattle and shoved it at me in an aggressive way, grunting to let me know to back off. Ok, ok, maybe it wasn't quite that purposeful of a jab...but at some point my boys became obsessed with weapons---swords at first, then lasers, and well, now....whatever can be used to fight off bad guys, the dark force, or each other sometimes.

In the begining, I was really upset when my boys would pretend to shoot something and we put rules in place like, no pointing the weapon at people or animals. Later, we made rules like, anything that you don't see in our news media today and can't readily be found in our society can be used...bow and arrows-OK, lasers-OK, swords-OK, nunchuks-Ok, guns-No, etc.

Now I've come to realize that I really can't fight the weapons battle and win (which I know will make my Quaker mother cringe), but over a recent conversation where we discussed why guns were so bad for society with my 6 year old, I realized all those phasing in of weapon allowances helped to create a healthy and substantial fear of guns. And after all, this is all I really wanted to do. I want my sons to know when to walk away from a dangerous situation where a gun is involved and I think we have accomplished this. I like that when my kids are watching a kids movie (yes I said a kids movie as in rated G where to me it is shocking they allow such things) they will say to us, "Um dad/mom, I don't know if I want to watch this cause there are guns in it and they are bad." Now you gun shooting-for-fun people out there (and I know you exist and are normal people) should know this does not stop us from having epic battles in our household, nor does it stop me from allowing my boys to carry their weapons with them to the playground or for walks because after all, the old adage comes to mind, "pick your battles wisely" literally.