Comments on: Choose Your Weapon

By: kim shimer

kim shimer — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:09:07 +0000

Good stuff. Ian enjoyed it too!

By: MommyWizdom

MommyWizdom — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:13:43 +0000

That is the perfect answer isn’t it? And I use it often – except, that I cheat and prep Daddy before-hand or during the asking… although, we haven’t been asked for weaponry, yet…

Good luck with your decision. It sounds like you’re leaning towards yes to me. In which case I will give you my two cents. Get it for him with the condition that as soon as someone/something gets hurt, even if ever so slightly, it’s gone for a long specified amount of time.. (three months, two weeks, forever). From what you say, he sounds responsible enough…

Again, good luck. Let us know what you decide…

MommyWizdom

By: Kristen @ Motherese

Kristen @ Motherese — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:51:29 +0000

You and I are on the same wavelength today! I posted on the same topic this morning. Like Gale, my kids are still too young for me to have confronted this issue directly. Nevertheless I find myself wondering what I’ll do when it comes up. I played with toy weapons as a kid, as did both of my brothers; we also learned from my parents about war and about personal responsibility. I think that toy weapons and an aversion to true violence can probably coexist (peacefully). The question, as in all things, is finding the balance.

By: jennifer

jennifer — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:08:52 +0000

Ian studied karate for many years and went through a middle-school phase of lusting after Japanese swords. We finally allowed him to get an unsharpened version, which mostly sat on his shelf gathering dust. One day a friend of mine was clucking over how a kid on her street had just gotten a Japanese sword and said “What kind of parents would allow that?!” I’m proud to say that I admitted we had done the same, and defended the other Mom and Dad in this saga.

By: Gale

Gale — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:05:36 +0000

My son is just over a year old and hasn’t gone down the path of weaponry… yet. It’s easy as parents to just say, “Weapons are bad. No weapons in this house.” But you bring to light a bigger issue – what the boys learn from said weapons. These issues of strategy, patience, safety, and protection are valuable ones; and ones that can’t be learned so well in peril-less life of padded walls.

Thanks for opening my mind to another paradigm!

By: rjga

rjga — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:02:21 +0000

Always a tough question. We have a general NO on toy weapons. My kids understood it and never really asked. But now at almost 15, my son is reading LOTs and Lots of what I consider very violent Japanese anime/manga. Is he acting out or acting more violent? No, he is still his same self. If I had gotten him a sword at age 10 have changed this phase? I can’t imagine. My daughter has never asked for a toy weapon, but is more likely to “hit first, ask later” if she is pissed off (she is gettng better as she gets older).

Kids learn so much by watching their parents behavior. Toy weapons are fantasy and I think kids know the difference between fantasy & reality very well. It is just us parents that can’t imagine they know the difference.

By: Nikki Benner

Nikki Benner — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:44:10 +0000

My husband studies kung fu, and his particular style does have weapons forms. While my son is nine months old and we have a ways to go before we need to worry about this, we’ve discussed that he will receive his weapons when he is ready to train in the style for that weapon… My two cents – I’d say to Noah that the answer isn’t “no” but rather “not yet”; as a student of karate, he should be able to respect that with power comes responsibility, and he has to earn the weapon through practice and mastery… but take that for what it’s worth… the opinion of one who has not yet been there…

By: East Coast Surfer

East Coast Surfer — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:03:13 +0000

Ask mommy.