LASER GUNS AND CHILDREN......

by Mary 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  Mary

  OK, tell me what you think of this:

  My co-worker came in this morning and we were just talking about our weekend and she told me that she and her husband took their kids to this park where they arm you with laser guns, you go into this maze with the lights turned down low and some sort of shield on and when you come across someone you shoot them with the laser gun. Obviously no one gets injured and she said it was "great fun", but I was somewhat shocked that she took her kids to this as they are 5, 8 and 9 years of age. While adults can differentiate between realilty and fantasy, I find it somewhat disturbing that her 5 year old daughter is learning to have "fun" by stimulating shooting another human being.

  I asked her (tackfully) if she was at all worried about her 5 year old daughter learning to shoot people. She got quite defensive and doesn't see a problem with it..........Am I over-reacting here? Would you let your child learn to use a simulated weapon? I think back to when we were kids and my brothers had plastic swords and toy guns that they would "fight" with........is this no different or is it very different?
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  david_10

  
  Hmmmmm. Good Question. I don't know the answer, either.

  When I was a kid, 10 or 11 or thereabouts, my 2 brothers, the other kids from the neighborhood and myself staged wars using rubber-band guns. It became quite a competition to build the biggest and most powerful weapon, and we really outdid ourselves. We developed these guns as long as rifles with clothespin triggers, and we would weight the rubber-bands with bobby pins and marbles and they had a range of maybe 50'. And, boy, did they hurt------------------------when you got hit, you knew you were hit. It's a wonder that none of us got an eye put out or something. But, looking back, I don't think we suffered any psyhcological harm. Personally, I despise guns and don't own one or even want one. My brothers feel the same way. I lost track of the other kids, but, as far as I know, none of them have ever gone on a shooting spree or anything. So I kinda think that there's no harm in this activity. The lasers are the hi-tech version of the rubber-band gun, only a lot safer. So I don't think I would worry too much. But then again.............I probably wouldn't be comfortable letting my kids do it. Know what I mean?

  David
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  kid-A

  I was born into the JWs, but my parents were very lax about the whole "toy gun" policy. We had a huge stash of "cap guns", water guns, bow and arrows, etc. We would stage elaborate games of "cowboys and indians", "cops and robbers", etc etc and it was all great fun, and none of us grew up to be serial killers, criminals or psychopaths.

  All humans including children have a certain baseline level of aggression that needs to be siphoned off in a harmless format such as this. Laser or paintball games are loads of fun, indeed, many employers now will sponsor "office paintball" outings which gives the employees a chance to harmlessly release some tension and maybe even take a "shot" at the boss !!! Its fun, its good exercise and they find it actually builds team morale.

  I dont think this crosses the line at all, and I have yet to meet a kid who doesnt love to run around with a water gun, soaking their buddies in some harmless summer fun. If its something the JW's disapprove of, then hell, I have no other choice but to support it 100% LOL
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  RunningMan

  I think it's very valuable preparation for the anarchy which will follow the nuclear war. Or perhaps, for the intergallactic war that we all know is coming, as soon as the aliens land.
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  Mary

  Runningman: Don't be silly. We all know that Armageddon is comin' to get us all long before the aliens will get here.
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  cruzanheart

  I played laser tag for the first time a couple of weeks ago -- my 10-year-old son's best friend had a birthday party at Main Event, kind of an indoor amusement arcade, so that was part of it. It was his first time playing and mine too, and we had a great time. I believe I lost many lives in my attempt to defend my end of the arena, but it was kind of cool. And the only thing I really worried about was the mist kicking up my son's asthma. He was fine, though, and had a ball. So did my 12-year-old daughter -- it was just something different and permission to behave unlike ourselves for a little while.

  No harm done, in my opinion.

  Nina
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  Elsewhere

  As much as the civilized world tries to deny it, humans have a deeply ingrained hunting instinct backed up by social behaviors (forming "tribes"). One way or another that hunting instinct will show itself.

  I think laser tag and paint ball games are a great way to express those hunting instincts without causing harm. In the end it teaches cooperation, honor, a healthy sense of pride and of course humility when one is defeated by ones opponent. One can learn to roll with life's punches and keep on going.
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  RichieRich

  I find it somewhat disturbing that her 5 year old daughter is learning to have "fun" by stimulating shooting another human being.

  yeah, because she would never learn that from TV or her classmates. I mean, geez, laser tage might be responsible for the breakdown of american morals.....

  Yeah right. Laser tag is fun, no one gets hurt, and I mean isn't running around healthier than sitting on your butt?

  Me and my dad have been known to go down there by ourselves ans gang up on the little kids.
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  Dr Jekyll

  Going off on a wild tangent, I've always thought it weird giving little girls Baby Dolls to play at being mummy with. If giving a child a toy gun is akin to training the child to use a gun to shoot other humans, is giving a little girl a baby doll to look after training the little girl to be a mummy?

  I used to work with kids that had been expelled from school. A lot of those teenage girls got pregnant (not by me I should add) . I was constantly shocked upon questioning these girls that they were going to treat these babies like Dolls. They would get all excited about what clothes they were going to get it, what pram, what designer baby boots, it really was like listening to an 8 yr old going on about her barbie. They were trading plastic baby dolls for real ones.

  Are Baby Dolls a good thing to give a girl? I don't think so.
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  Mary

  Hmmm........very interesting posts here............maybe it's not really so much what kind of toys they play with that causes kids to become violent, but more the environment they're being raised in...........

  I asked this because I don't have children of my own, so I didn't know what I would do under the same circumstances.......