Bang Bang – You’re dead!!!

Article by Julie Sullivan – Tish Tash Toys Agent in Suffolk

It’s a big dilemma – what should you do as parent (or in my case the manager of a pre-school) when young children want to play games which involve toy guns and shooting each other? My immediate response is that ‘this is not an appropriate game for you to play –  lets go and get out the duplo instead!!’

Prompted by a number of children bringing toy weapons into pre-school, I decided that a policy was required to stop these toys even coming through the door! However after lots of reading up on this whole approach to play, I changed my opinion somewhat and thought this might be a topic other parents would also like to consider. Current thinking is that there is a need for children to play role play games which will undoubtably include games featuring heroes and baddies and the use of weapons. I feel that we should not stop this play as it is an important means for children to explore boundaries and to find out about feeling safe and powerful. Even if you ban guns and other manufactured weapon toys then children will use their fingers, sticks, bricks etc as pretend weapons (even a piece of toast can be bitten into a gun shape by a would-be power ranger!).

We should however step in if play becomes aggressive. The role of the adult carer is to role play alongside the children helping them to see that the hero characters in their play don’t just beat up the bad guys – they have a duty to be strong, kind individuals who use their powers for good eg rescuing people from danger. This subtle change in the direction of hero play lies much happier with my soul and has led to our change in policy!

If you are interested, we now ask parents to discourage their children from bringing in pre-made weapon toys into pre-school as they do encourage rough play and can only be used for one purpose (shooting or stabbing each other) but if they do come in with them then they will be asked to check them into  the ‘gun cupboard’ where weapons will be safely locked away until home time. This mimics the respect for real guns which we would want to encourage and recognises that we live in a rural  area where some families have guns in their homes for recreation. There are very few toy guns and weapons on sale in the high street at the moment although toys from films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Power rangers offer toy guns and cutlasses and then with the growing interest in Star Wars (the clone wars) there will be light sabres galore!

As well as working in a pre-school I am an agent for Tish Tash Toys and am very passionate about childrens toys. I am always on the look out for toys which stimulate a child’s imagination in particular those which can be used in a multitude of ways allowing creativity. In terms of allowing children to explore hero play whilst avoiding the toy guns and aggression generated by copying power rangers for example, I would suggest taking a look at toys in the Le Toy Van range which is available through Tish Tash Toys.

You will find the Wooden Paragon Pirate Ship, priced at a reasonable £39.99 which comes complete with captain, crew and accessories. This kids pirate boat features the Daddy of all guns – canon’s!! Rub a dub pirate squirters, bath toys from American company Alex Toys also feature a canon, a great stocking filler for boys who a pirate crazy!

Tish Tash Toys also offer several castles and My First Castle from Le Toy Van can be purchased with a Set of Knights who come brandishing swords, shields and daggers!

So go on – give it a try –  embrace your would be heroes (and heroines!) and give them a whole range of props to enhance their play – you can check the guns into the gun cupboard and still have a heap of fun whilst they save the world!!

If you are interested in earning a percentage from the sales of our wooden toys then please see our website for more details. See  http://www.tishtashtoys.com/agents.htm