Is it normal to like guns

When anger is explored without parental aggression or fear, children can become more accepting and thoughtful about their angry and aggressive responses. We as parents are more likely to be successful in achieving our goal of raising a child, who is respectful, hard working and loving when we also support their access to their constructive use of their vital, life preserving capacity to be angry.

While I agree with the basic idea of providing children with channels to express emotions, I feel strongly that toy guns are a bad channel. They have to do with the importance of learning some lessons correctly the first time around. In my house, toy swords, light sabers, model tanks, … are fine. Toy guns are not. The reason for this may seem a bit counterintuitive; I expect my children to grow up handling firearms. I come from a long line of gun owners. We have a family history that includes gun fights in the old west.

I have a number of firearms in the house behind lock and key. I am comfortable around firearms. I am comfortable because I have had basic firearms handling behavior built into me since I was a child and I know that I instinctively handle a firearm properly, even if it ceases to be the immediate focus of my attention.

When I pick up a firearm, my finger instinctively goes to the trigger guard, not to the trigger. When I first go shooting with someone, I look to see where their finger naturally lands. This simple observation can be telling. The natural reactions to firearms of children, and adults, who have been raised around toy guns instead of real firearms can be quite different. Their finger often goes straight to the trigger. The papers are all too full of the results of trivialized introductions to firearms.

The results are often tragic. The people involved were often so disconnected from what they were doing that they do not ever really know what they did. These are seldom stories from people that were raised around firearms. Proper handling of firearms is something that needs to be learned properly to the point where it becomes instinctual.

The first contact with a firearm needs to be one of solemn discussion about the responsibility that holding such a tool carries. Handling a firearm needs to be taught so that pointing a firearm and someone involves a conscious unlocking of a deep seated behavior. Pointing a firearm, even a toy, at another person runs counter to this.

Learned otherwise, safe handling of a firearm becomes a conscious choice to override actions that have been performed over and over. Kids who spend hundreds of hours playing with toy guns end up feeling comfortable with their finger on the trigger, pointing an object that feels like a firearm at another person, nd pulling the trigger indiscriminately.

When they first pickup a real firearm, their natural reaction is to place their finger on the trigger, wave it around, and perhaps pull the trigger to see if it will go off. I sometimes question if it is really possible to unlearn practices that have been repeated thousands of times as a child. Sure they are serious when they are on the range with several instructors.

However, where are they going to point the weapon when they are interrupted by someone while shooting it and their immediate focus shifts from the firearm. To do otherwise violates something deep in their psyche. Add A Child. Something went wrong. Please contact support fatherly. Like fatherly on Facebook. Something went wrong please contact us at support fatherly.

By Patrick A. Keep real guns away from children at all costs. Kids are naturally—and perhaps evolutionarily—drawn to guns, especially boys. Forbid children from picking up what they may think are toy guns without adult supervision. Big Kid Guns Raising Boys. Quietly and Cautiously. Aggressive play, Banta says, most often pops up between the ages of 3—4 and can continue through third grade.

When you think about it, this makes sense: These are the years when children are busy learning how to play well with others and making sense of the world around them through play. With their limitless imaginations, kids can turn almost anything from a plastic banana to a cheese sandwich to a drum stick into an imaginary weapon. They are acting out being brave, being powerful, and doing good things in the world.

This helps him understand that your household rules—like being kind to others—also apply to weapon play. Try: In our house, good guys are safe, kind, and respectful. When you play with a big stick, how can you be safe? What are ways that your character can be kind and respectful?

If your little superhero is really fascinated by a game of Batman-blasts-the-bad-guys, broaden his perspective by giving him lots of chances to be the good guy in the real world, such as at home and in his community.

Try giving him responsibilities and leadership opportunities that he can succeed at, like taking care of his little sister while you get dinner ready, or helping out an elderly neighbor by carrying groceries in from the car.

You saved the day by playing with your sister so I could make dinner. Thanks for helping out! A rowdy group of good guys racing through your living room on the hunt for bad guys can feel pretty combative—but it also gives your boy some time to practice cooperative play as he learns to get along and play with other children.