Lesson #77
Swapping guns for guitars
As the mother of two young boys, I face a dilemma that I am sure a lot of moms face. How do we raise children in this violent society? Everywhere you turn there are stories of shootings, war and destruction. Many toys and games capitalize on violence, making it exciting and appealing to children.
When I was a kid, I vividly remember not being allowed to have a variety of toys in our house. As a girl, that focus was on Barbie and for my brother, G.I. Joe and guns. (The Barbie boycott is a whole other issue. Maybe I will address that in a separate post.)
I recall my parents actively avoiding any violent toys and shows on television. We definitely felt slighted as kids but as an adult, I totally appreciate their goal. Now that I have three kids of my own, I want to mirror the same intentions of my own parents. It seems this challenge is even greater now with access kids have via Youtube, video games, etc.
Even since my six-year-old was born, I swore we would not have toy guns in our house. We did not allow him to watch television other than Disney Jr. and PBS for several years. But as he got older, this became increasingly difficult. Ignorance was bliss. He did not know what he was missing. But it all went to hell when he got his first toy gun as a gift. Even with that, I eventually got rid of it secretly and he forgot. But now that he is six, he is relentless! He wants to save his money to buy Nerf guns, ninja paraphernalia, and weapons in general.
We have collected a few violent toys over the past year, despite my feeble protests. It is completely my fault for not sticking to my guns so to speak. I have let my kids take advantage of me and have given into their requests and relentless begging. I take full responsibility. But how do I back track from here? I want to purge the house from all of this crap but I know there is a high price.
Max just started a new camp this week called School of Rock. He was a little hesitant because he was nervous about performing in front of others. But he has really been thriving in the camp. The first day, during free time, he drew a few pictures. They were really quite good except for one small problem. One of them seemed to depict two men shooting each other with machine guns. The teacher pulled me aside and explained that this is not allowed. I was embarrassed. I wanted to pretend that we do not in any way allow for that in our house but I knew I would be lying in front of my kid. This really started me thinking about how to cut out some of the violent influence in our house.
Today after camp, the teacher was telling me how well he is doing and how he has a natural talent for music. At lunch, I asked Max which was cooler, guitars or guns. To my surprise, he said guns. I see there is hope for my cause yet! If only we can swap out the weapons for music. I am cautiously optimistic!
Swapping guns for guitars
As the mother of two young boys, I face a dilemma that I am sure a lot of moms face. How do we raise children in this violent society? Everywhere you turn there are stories of shootings, war and destruction. Many toys and games capitalize on violence, making it exciting and appealing to children.
When I was a kid, I vividly remember not being allowed to have a variety of toys in our house. As a girl, that focus was on Barbie and for my brother, G.I. Joe and guns. (The Barbie boycott is a whole other issue. Maybe I will address that in a separate post.)
I recall my parents actively avoiding any violent toys and shows on television. We definitely felt slighted as kids but as an adult, I totally appreciate their goal. Now that I have three kids of my own, I want to mirror the same intentions of my own parents. It seems this challenge is even greater now with access kids have via Youtube, video games, etc.
Even since my six-year-old was born, I swore we would not have toy guns in our house. We did not allow him to watch television other than Disney Jr. and PBS for several years. But as he got older, this became increasingly difficult. Ignorance was bliss. He did not know what he was missing. But it all went to hell when he got his first toy gun as a gift. Even with that, I eventually got rid of it secretly and he forgot. But now that he is six, he is relentless! He wants to save his money to buy Nerf guns, ninja paraphernalia, and weapons in general.
We have collected a few violent toys over the past year, despite my feeble protests. It is completely my fault for not sticking to my guns so to speak. I have let my kids take advantage of me and have given into their requests and relentless begging. I take full responsibility. But how do I back track from here? I want to purge the house from all of this crap but I know there is a high price.
Max just started a new camp this week called School of Rock. He was a little hesitant because he was nervous about performing in front of others. But he has really been thriving in the camp. The first day, during free time, he drew a few pictures. They were really quite good except for one small problem. One of them seemed to depict two men shooting each other with machine guns. The teacher pulled me aside and explained that this is not allowed. I was embarrassed. I wanted to pretend that we do not in any way allow for that in our house but I knew I would be lying in front of my kid. This really started me thinking about how to cut out some of the violent influence in our house.
Today after camp, the teacher was telling me how well he is doing and how he has a natural talent for music. At lunch, I asked Max which was cooler, guitars or guns. To my surprise, he said guns. I see there is hope for my cause yet! If only we can swap out the weapons for music. I am cautiously optimistic!
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