Photo by Ty Muckler.
Last night we were over at a friend's house. A few kids were outside dog-piled in the hammock, and a few were plundering the downstairs playroom.
Which is where I was, with Mica, as the kids played the marble run, pounded on the synthesizer-piano, constructed a wooden pizza...
Orlando found a few army men and started lining them up.
"Look, Mama!"
I murmured mildly.
He dumped the entire box out onto the floor and started plucking army men from the pile of plastic, and arranging them.
"Wow!" he sighed. "They have weapons."
And then he looked up at me, "I thought there was something fantastic in this box and so that is why I turned it over. And look! There are so many fantastic things in here!"
Oh, yes, fantastic army men. With weapons!
I had to laugh.
Then the other peace-loving moms and I talked about getting together to build swords for our kids.
Don't worry, we'll make them out of foam.
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Read more about my ambivalent relationship to weapon play here and here.
I can totally relate to this! I have three boys myself, and while I don't want to push my values on them too harshly, I always made a point to never buy them weapon oriented toys unless they really wanted them. And I've always tried to talk to them, gently, about why they think their toy soldiers have these weapons. I find talking with my boys about their slightly militaristic toys is the best way to at least get them to start thinking about what it means to fight a war. Not that I'm expecting them to figure it out anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteMy son loves those army guys. Heck, my daughter does too.
ReplyDeleteThey are magical, I guess.
Love your photos. And I love that profile picture too. That is exactly my life. Crazy kids hanging all over me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving a comment on my blog. :)
Weapons (and boys ... though they do not always go hand in hand). My boy is only 2 and hasn't zoned in on weapons yet. Not sure how we'll navigate those waters yet. Love reading how others do it though.
it may be the *perfect* time of year to collect supplies for boffer swords: clearance priced swim noodles!! And, of course, pvc or alternate for the handle & decorate with duct tape :D Super Weapon Mama is quick and easily attained!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my space and leaving some love!
ReplyDeleteI had to grin and sigh while reading this as I have already started my journey into "how to deal with the whole weapon issue" in my home.
i have no answers. only opinions and i'm not sure how to bring it all together.
it is good that you surround yourself with other peace loving mama's though. i am sure that helps.
maybe i will have a conversation with you about it...that might be a good place to start! hee hee.
Can I just say, that is a fantastic photo!
ReplyDeleteMy boy is into weapons as well. I'd be all over a sword making party. I've even thought about trying to arrange playdates where the kids can play with swords/water guns (with some rules!) to see if that got it out of the system at all. But I don't want to fan the flames either! Such a hard topic.
ReplyDelete