Max’s Mom Allows Them
“Mom, can I go to Max’s house? Max’s mom allows squirt guns.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah! She doesn’t have rules about squirt guns. She allows them. Do you?”
I thought Lucas was asking, “Do you allow squirt guns?” so I said “No.”
“Oh,” he replied. “If you don’t have rules about squirt guns, then they’re allowed.”
I explained, “No, I meant I do have rules about squirt guns and they aren’t allowed.”
“Oh. I allow squirt guns for Tidoo.”
“You do? Well, I don’t and I’m the mom.”
“Yeah. … Tidoo has a light saber, too.”
March 15, 2006 at 11:01 am
I love the reasoning and trying to catch you on your conditions. That boy is so charming it hurts me sometimes.
March 15, 2006 at 12:20 pm
That Tidoo has it going on! I have rules about squirt guns too. They can only be used on the cats, and only when they’re on the kitchen counter.
March 15, 2006 at 12:25 pm
He’s getting so tricksy! It’s frustrating, but I admire the way he’s reasoning and trying to work the system. I think that’s a quality that will serve him well in life.
March 15, 2006 at 1:17 pm
See, I’m not so unreasonable!
Max’s mom must be a war hawk.
March 15, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Squirt guns rule! I think the idea that anything “gun-like” is wrong, because “guns r bad, unkay” is blown a little out of proportion. Kids know the difference between a plastic thing and a die-cast metal thing. Teaching them the difference is not so hard. Not that I think you should do anything other than what you think is right. Oh yeah, water balloons rule, too!
March 15, 2006 at 3:21 pm
I’m actually wrestling with this. I know squirt guns rule! I know how much fun they are. But gunplay is forbidden at school, and it’s easier for me and the teacher if the rules at home and the rules at school are consistent. To me it’s heartbreaking to see a very small child playing with guns. Someday, I will probably allow Lucas to play with squirt guns, but I’m not sure when. It’s hard to ban something after the child has already been allowed to play with it, so for now, until I sort out my feelings on the subject, I’m just not allowing it. Sometimes I feel my job is simply to hold at bay the dangerous forces in the world just a little while longer until he’s better able to cope with them on his own.
Guns are part of Lucas’s heritage and future inheritance. My father especially is very fond of guns and has become a real craftsman. He restores old guns to beautiful like-new condition. I know that Lucas will have the opportunity to handle, clean, and fire real guns someday.
I am not in control of Lucas’s imagination, and he is quite capable of turning a stick, a bannana, or even a piece of toast into a gun.
March 15, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Yeah, but don’t you worry about how your son will grow up if he doesn’t learn that projectile weapons solve problems? I mean, really. The NRA will have a lot or work to do with him later if you keep this up.
March 15, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Well… if squiting your friends isn’t off the table, it’s just the gunesque aspect of a squirt gun, then might I suggest a water weenie. It’s cheap, it involves an art project, it’s hardly a gun, and has all the friend soaking benefits of a squirt gun. In fact, in my not so humble opinion, it’s a better engineered friend soaking device. Party to be planned for the 90+ degree days this summer. Oh, I am so inspired!
March 16, 2006 at 6:58 pm
Sounds great!