I get it. I understand the desire of recent decades to tone down violent toys but let's face it. They serve a purpose. My favorite toys were always cap guns and popguns. I had dozens--police specials, army issue, rayguns, cowboy pistols, rifles, shotguns. I never hurt anybody and I was able to take out my youthful aggresion. Maybe we've overdone it and maybe that's why our youth have been getting MORE violent instead of less violent? Just a thought. I had grenades, too, but with mine you had to make your own "KER-SHPLOOOOOOMMMM!" noises. Apparently THIS one really exploded! Ah, for the simpler joys of childhood.
George Will once wrote that if you give a boy a toy duck, he will turn it upside down, grab it by the neck and start shouting "Bang! Bang!"
ReplyDeleteMark Steyn wrote about a neighborhood couple that was determined to raise a pacifist child. A relative gave him a sword and shield set. After deliberation, the couple decided to compromise. He could use the shield, but not the sword, and Steyn would drive by and see the kid practicing cringing beneath the blows of some oppressor.
I always had toy guns and swords when I was growing up. I had a cap gun. I would buy those bags full of the green army men. My brother and I would build forts in our bedroom and play war against each other. I think people go way overboard these days with not wanting boys to play with "violent toys." Boys will be boys. Many will still find a way to do things with other toys they are given. A toddler that I know was given a lego set by his parents. The first thing he made was a gun.
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