Sunday, December 7, 2008

Boys being boys?

As my girls get older, and interact more with other kids, I'm noticing that there are definitely differences between boys and girls. Shocking, eh? Really, I went through public schools in the 70s and 80s, and I was kind of fed a unisex ideology. Girls can do anything boys can, and boys can do anything girls can, and there really is no difference between the two. Even when I got married, I didn't fully acknowledge that we were different, just figured I was right and my husband was not quite there with me.... Nice, right? Well, with age comes a little wisdom I guess. Adding a little boy to our home through foster care has been an eye opener too. We've had this little guy since he was a year and a half, little, so we know all that he's been exposed do for a good chunk of his memorable life. We've been careful to not expose him to a lot of violence and junk, just like we were with our girls. Yet, you know what, his plastic golf club has still become a gun. He "shoots" trees with sticks and chases the dog around the house going "pow pow" with a dull pencil. He just naturally, truly on his own, has developed an interest in weapon type stuff. Obviously we're not rushing out to buy him a real gun, but it's got me thinking. Just because there are some kids who have lost it and done horrible things with weapons in recent years, does that mean that it can't be okay for boys to have beebee guns and do target practice? I certainly want to keep my kids and those around us safe, but if my child is interested at looking at Blackhawk CQC Holsters and other "guy things" in catalogs, might that just be a good opportunity to sit with him and look with him, talking about the responsibility of weapon ownership, and of the dangers of not exercising that responsibility and good judgement? I am a firm believer in teachable moments, and think that so often we miss them in being careful to do what we are "supposed" to be doing.
Anyway, that's my random rambling for the day....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, yes, yes, you probably should, better from you than who knows where!
Your story is just like my sis in law's; her boys were not exposed to guns and violence, no toy guns in the house, none of that. But she gave up when her boys bit their PBJs into the shape of guns and started "shooting" each other with them!