Boys Will Be Boys

January 28, 2010

This past weekend the boys were invited to a birthday party for two of Mason’s classmates. All of the boys from their class were invited along with a few friends. It was held at one of the birthday boys homes where there was a great backyard to run around and a jumpee house for entertainment.

I don’t think we were there for more than 15 minutes before I noticed that my two boys had disappeared along with a few others. Then, I caught a glimpse, they were aiming right for me. Five of them descended the stairs, guns and swords in hand and started to fire.

This was the main source of play, for every single boy. For hours! It was amazing. I think the only thing that amazed me more than how happy they were pretending to fire at one another was the fact that there were enough weapons in the house for every boy! Crazy!!

I just had to post and share this because over the summer when we attended Matt’s brother Paul’s wedding, the boys had an outing for the “bachelor party”. Some of you may recall, it was a gunslinging tour. Boys and guns. I mean really??!!

It was hysterical because Matt doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t encourage shooting at each other but when he came home from that trip, he was lit up. He couldn’t stop talking about it and about how much fun he had. I would have to side on the “nature” end of things rather than the nurture side for this one. It seems to just be in the blood.

I mean, at home, we don’t encourage shooting guns, we don’t even have any toy guns and yet Mason and Miles still find ways to pretend to shoot at each other and us. They’ll arm themselves with the toy drill or the toy hammer and of course, sticks! If there’s a bend to a stick, forget it, it’s instantly a weapon. Oh wait, I take the not having toy guns at home back. How could I forget about the 30 or so guns that are smaller than my finger nail. Thanks LEGO.

I’ll let you in on a secret though. When I was little, my dad had an air gun and one of my favorite things to do was shoot that thing. He would put up a target against the garage door, load up the darts and place it in my hands. I have to admit, it was FUN! I remember going out to the woods one time and firing a “real” gun. There’s something about holding so much power in the palm of your hands. It’s exhilarating. I hate to admit it but it’s true.

I know that girls don’t usually show much interest in guns and honestly, I would have never thought to shoot one if my dad hadn’t been into it but my boys have been shooting things for years. It just seems to be something boys do. They shoot. I definitely don’t think they need to be exposed to violent tv shows or movies before an appropriate age, which is 35 if I had my way. They seem to somehow get exposed to guns and battles no matter how much you try to shelter them. There’s plenty of time to see violence in the media. Why rush it?!

So, for now, we’ll shield them as best we can and we’ll try to set appropriate boundaries for when they do shoot at each other.

What more is there to say…..boys will be boys!

Here is Matt at his brother’s Gunslinging Tour…