Should we really be encouraging kids to fight?
I went to the pub the other day. This is a pretty rare thing for me.
I went to this particular pub, with my husband and kids, because it offers children’s entertainment on a Sunday afternoon (yes, this is my social life is at the moment). There were a couple of friendly young guys dressed as clowns doing balloon twisting.
Spotting my 4-year-old son, one of them asked, “Would you like a sword? Or a laser gun?”
No. My son wanted a balloon kitten. He wasn’t planning to batter it to death with a rock, either.
No doubt this clown was just making suggestions based on what boys have requested in the past. But really… do kids need any more encouragement to play violent games?
I’m not some tree-hugging hippie with flowers in my hair, but I try not to expose my kids to unnecessary violence. I don’t have adult TV shows on in the background while they’re around (I still haven’t seen an episode of Breaking Bad). I’ve occasionally “lost” gruesome books of fairy tales that relatives have sent us as presents (really? The wolf falls down the chimney and gets boiled alive?). My husband gave our kids all the toy cars he’d kept from his childhood, but packed the soldiers away.
My son is boisterous and gets into fights with his older sister but he's not obsessed with violence. When he plays with Lego he makes swimming pools, not guns. He's more likely to pretend to be a cat than a commando. He'd rather use a stick as a fishing rod than something to beat someone over the head with. (Generally speaking.)
