Toy guns are probably not a great gift (as you may not know what the child’s parents think of them), however, there is not much you can do to stop boys from playing war or pretending to shoot people. My mother was determined to never have a toy weapon in the house, but my brothers made their own guns and swords out of duplo and sticks. Another Mum with a similar philosophy related to me that her boys (she has 5) chewed their sandwiches into guns. Maybe my Mum should have been more worried about me (I own two real swords)!

Personally I don’t think weapon type toys are a good gift. As a parent I would check over the gifts and donate the inappropriate or unwanted ones to charity.

I have given guns as presents to my own children, grandchildren and friends children. One of the biggest joys for children is a water gun in the hot Queensland sun during summer. Parents can use this opportunity to explain the rights and wrongs of gun usage. Shielding children from items that are real in society does not help or teach them.

Deff wouldn’t give it as a gift unless I knew the parents were ok with it.

I wouldn’t buy a toy gun for a child unless I knew the parents’ views regarding them, but at the same time we wouldn’t have a problem if our kids were given guns as a gift! I get what the mother is saying, though, it’s really not that difficult to ask a parent if that kind of gift suits. Then again, when it’s a kid we don’t know particularly well (our Punks started preschool this year and already their social life is busier than ours!) I tend to stick with a lot of activity based gifts like craft etc., I create and give art sets like a starter kit for watercolours that include a set of watercolour pencils, packet of various brushes and a book of textured paper. The kids always love it!

I wouldn’t give it as a gift unless it was ok with the parents but it is just my view

Im a parent who doesnt encourage there children to play with guns. Whether its a toy gun or a stick. I did grow up playing with guns, but i think now a days, life has changed and i find now being a parent if i can protect my little ones i will. I wouldnt appreciate someone giving my child a gun for his birthday but if it did happen i would explain in detail more about guns.

As kids we used to play with them all the time.

I wouldn’t have thought this would be a problem..it’s a toy! Play pretend, they can pretend to be robbers and policemen that’s how I played as a child. Children don’t think malicious about them, it’s just a bit of fun. Just have to have parental supervision like with most toys. Maybe ask the parents what sort of toys their child is interested in first to save the embarrassment.

I do think the toys are inappropriate but most children tire of new toys very quickly and then it’s just a matter of “losing” them.

Interesting that she has not taken them away yet she says she feels so strongly about them. if you feel that strongly remove them from your house.

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  • • cherz replied
    • 03 Jun 2018 , 1:02 pm

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  A Very good point you made.

Personally, I tend to check with parents if there’s anything particular the child would like, especially if I don’t know the child well. I tend to steer clear of guns and the such like for presents because you don’t know how the parents view them.

When we were young, toy guns were not an issue … in this day and age, however, I would think twice about giving/receiving as gifts.

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  • • mom93821 replied
    • 03 Jun 2018 , 5:54 am

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  Sensible comment and advice – times are quite different and gifts are different too.

If not keen on a present I would just put it to the side and discuss later. Everyone has different views on appropriate toys. The bigger issue is teaching children about weapons at an appropriate age and how to to respect and how to not use them!

I really didn’t like the idea of toy guns in my house for many years. Looking back I think I was a bit too rigid. On a certain point my son was invited at birthday parties with nerf and water guns and it was so much fun for him, that I felt I was being silly about this.
When we were young ourselves, we played cowboy and had these metal little guns with a pink rolled up stroke of paper which gave a bang. None of us became keen on guns because of these games.

I see the issue but I see kids make guns from their fingers so they will play if they want. I think if you’re worried about a child getting something you would need to specify beforehand. People have different ideas over what’s appropriate.

I was against getting my kids guns & swords but they made their own out of sticks & blocks regardless as well as their finger pointed as a gun. Playing with guns or swords doesn’t teach them bad behaviour, I would be more concerned with what they watch on TV & read in books these days. Our school banned Harry Potter books because they believed it to be full of witchcraft, I kid you not!! The bible is full of horrible history, fire & brimstone but we allow that to be taught at school. I bought them the whole book set of Harry Potter so they could read it in their own time. We could deny our kids all sorts of potentially harmful toys, books, movies etc but at some stage we have to allow them to work out whether things are harmful or not. It is more about how we raise our kids teaching them right from wrong & how to work out if something is good or bad. Playing Cowboys & Indians is simply child’s play, not terrorism.

My kids play with Nerf Guns and I think that they are having a bit of fun personally. Water Pistols are also fun and remember using them when we were little too.

Toy guns were fine when we were young but no such a good idea now!

I never give kids guns as gifts. So far mine haven’t received any as gifts; I’m hoping they never do.