Little Boy Adventures

Disclaimer: Sorry my kids are always down to their underoos (as we call them), but they are in and out of the pool so much that it is near impossible to keep clothes on them. Sorry about the almost-naked pictures! :)

This morning our kitchen was a jungle......
Before I start I guess I should acknowledge that I know there are many parents AND parenting experts out there who are very much against letting little children play with plastic guns, knives or other pretend weapons. (My children are loving swords). Rand and I have watched our boys play and occasionally look at each other like, "Is this something we are okay with?" I have actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about how I feel about kids playing with guns and such, thanks to my expensive, Mommy degree....a.k.a. MA in counseling. I took a few classes in Play Therapy and also Childhood development as well as an internship that included counseling children using Play Therapy. These classes have drastically impacted my parenting style and choices...including our decision to not spank or physically hurt our children as a form of discipline (we have not been perfect in this, but mostly!) Kids and their behaviors are complex and so parenting can be very frustrating unless you are constantly thinking, adjusting and changing right along with the kiddos. We are always trying new things and re-evaluating how things are working.
Anyway, that was a little tangent. Back to the toy guns. My original idea was that I would be okay with my kids playing with toy guns and that it was a part of them processing their world and pretend play. However, when you see your precious little innocent child pick up a "weapon" and "shoot to kill" it can be a bit shocking. Rand and I are still talking about the boundaries we think there should be (if any) when the kids are playing like this. Like is it okay to "kill" people. Should we even say "kill"? What about whacking people with swords? What about killing animals (pretend ones played by people, or the stuffed kind) We aren't "hunters" so watching our kids pretend to be bears and then the other one shooting and killing it is a little shocking, too. For now, we've decided the kids can play like this as long as everyone is "playing" and no one is not liking what is happening. ("Shooting" your brother or mom when you are angry is absolutely not OK.) Also, I try to encourage saying "I got you" rather then "I killed you" mostly because I'm trying to imagine what another mom would think if my child was playing with theirs.
I'm really under the impression that pretend play is very, very powerful for young children. It is more than just playing. It is actually key to their development and I try to let them do it with as little interruption or direction from me. It's rather fun to watch and participate in and see where their little imaginations go and try to figure out what's really going on in their heads.
So, back to the kitchen was a jungle. Brendan has been walking around using his underwear or shorts as a holster to carry a gun on one side and a sword on the other. He's been wanting me or Rand or Wyatt to wear "scary teeth" (Dracula teeth) and pretend to be a bear so that he can have an adventure and be a hunter to get the bear. Instead of me being the bear for an hour this morning, I decided to set up a jungle adventure in the kitchen. The boys used their binoculars to spot animals...and then they shot them and threw them on the floor. Sounds cruel, I know, but my boys aren't angry or violent and they don't watch inappropriate movies, so I'm not too worried about it. Especially when later they found a disgusting little wiggly bug (a real one) on our floor and they gathered it up in a jar and kindly released him onto the back porch.




Poor little guy is going to die.....

----------------------------------------------------------He didn't have a chance