Sending a Kid Home For Playing "Guns"

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Thank you all for your replies.

He is 4 and the big issue is that is a all day thing. He is constantly building weapons and pretending to hurt his friends (he will say " I am going to hurt you"). The other boys (and girls) are able to superheroes while respecting the rules (no pretend hurting or weapons). He doesn't seem aware that is not a normal behavior and that it should only be for pretend play.

Is interesting to see everyones policies, and I am wondering if I am too strict with this policy and the no violence/aggressive play. I will stick with the no weapons because majority of the parents attending are against guns (so am I) but I like the idea of allowing "good guy/bad guy play" (with no pretend weapons).

ok so if kidlet built a a super sonic bubble blowing machine that paralyzes bad guys is that a weapon?? See I can see all kids of senerios that my kids could come up with to "get around" the no weapons rule. Is a dart gun used by the zoo keeper a weapon? oh I have smart kids...
My son would have looked at you and said that the gun is not a weapon unless if you use it as such. It is an inanimate object and a pretend gun is certainly not a weapon because it really can't be used to hurt anyone. My son shoots every day (has for the past 7 years) and at no point is his gun a weapon. It is a piece of sporting equipment. The box of nerf guns I can't part with because of all of the memories of him and his friends lying in wait to "attack" me as I walked through the house and the epic nerf battles are not weapons. The supersoakers are not weapons.
What do you do with tube people that have guns or bows? Cannons? Cars that run over people? I am just curious.
I find this topic very interesting.

Oh my funny weapon/ rifle story. My son was 17 and stopped by Delta from flying with his air rifle (which by the way is not classified by TSA as a weapon and he is legal to fly with it) The lady at Delta said it looks like a weapon to me. I laughed- I had a bunch of cub scouts tell me that it looks like a nerf gun. Lets not go by what it looks like but by what it is. He did make his flight- barely. A poptart is still a poptart even in the shape that looks like a gun or several states.

[Nisaryn]

I'm a little late posting to this but, what does the father/mother do for work? I only ask this because as a military provider I find that a LOT of my boys want to "be like daddy" and want to play soldier/sailor/marine etc. I don't discourage play weapons but I DO discourage them aiming them at people and animals etc. or saying things like "I'm gonna get you!" while playing with 'weapons'. If they want to 'shoot' at pretend dragons etc. then I will allow it. It's hard to keep children who come from families where weapons are such a visible part of the job (even if they don't work directly with weapons the advertisements etc. for the military always highlights these types of positions) to not want to emulate their parents in this regard. I do spend a lot of time reiterating that weapons are NOT toys in any way and that they can hurt people or even kill them.

[Shell]

I always told my students that they could only "shoot" pretend water.
They were always creative and often I would find them shooting things other than water. I would just remind them to pretend it was a water gun or hose, and then I would walk away.

As long as no one was crying or upset, I let it continue with a few reminders.

BC, I really like your take on this issue.

[LovetheSun]

And I have to really wonder how CAN they play good guys v bad guys without weapons (as mentioned above)? What would they do? There's chasing, grabbing and putting in jail I guess, but then the grabbing and man-handling to jail would probably result in the adult's disapproval too (I'd probably be going "Gentle, Gentle!). They can't talk crap to the bad guys 'cause I'm sure the adults won't approve of that! So, really what is left for them to do?

I thought of a game where together we decided who are the "bad guys", which we pretend stoled something from the group and then they can "catch them" by taping them gently which freeze the bag guys then they have go to " jail" (an area under our climbing outdoor toy which has plenty of safe space). Then we take turns in changing up the bad/good guys. They can elaborate on how to freeze the bad guys by hiding and surprising them, doing a bicycles chase etc...