make love not war, even at home

I've been doing a bit of reading lately over at DotMoms, especially now that Betsy has joined their ranks. Actually, I've been thinking about asking to join their ranks as well, only now I'm angsting over whether or not Betsy will think I'm just a big stupid copycat. At least that's new angst, though. It will give me something fresh to think about at 5 am, after I've finished with the checking account, the mold in the garage, the renovation of the basement, whether or not I'm ruining my children's lives, and turning into a big old hag, instead of just recycling the same old stuff over and over again.

I read this post there a little while ago, and it got me thinking about, as the author calls it, The Toy Gun Issue.

Surely, it will surprise no one here that I neither own guns nor approve of their use as toys. But why? In contemplating the whole thing, could I really justify that sentiment, or was it just part and parcel of my whole, you know, liberal agenda?

The fact that we choose not to own guns is easy. We don't hunt for sport or for meat (unless I choose to bring a rifle to the Big Y when picking up my next pack of boneless skinless chicken breast, which I'm guessing would be frowned upon). Killing things is not on our list of entertaining and amusing ways to spend our time. And the statistics around gun ownership are frightening.

• A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in an unintentional shooting, than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.


• Guns stored in the home are used 72% of the time when children are accidentally killed and injured, commit suicide with a firearm.


• 5 children were killed every day in gun related accidents and suicides committed with a firearm, from 1994-1998.

It goes on and on.

Now, think about this: what is the primary purpose of children's play? To learn. We give them plastic fruits and vegetables to play with, that they might learn to eat nutritious foods. We give them dolls to play with, that they might learn to care for smaller beings with kindness. We give them blocks to play with, that they might learn to be builders, rather than destroyers. So, if we give them models of violence to play with, how can we expect them to learn peace? How can we tell them, "No biting, no hitting, no kicking," but then allow them to play at killing? How can we expect small children to be able to differentiate between violence in play and aggression in the real world?

I would like to see this world become a more peaceful place in my lifetime. And, if that's what I want, I have to take some responsibility for seeing it happen. For my part, I'm going to help us get there by teaching my children that hurting and being hurt aren't fun, even for pretend. And that means no toy guns.

Now, all that said, don't ask me "What about Super Soakers?" because everyone knows that they're just different.

Posted by volfie at September 20, 2004 01:38 PM