The Great Defender

On Saturday I posted an innocent status update on Facebook that read

“My two biggest boys are reading the "Combat Guns" magazine together while Charlotte and Isaac are playing house. Charlotte loves pretending Isaac is her baby! Great start to a Saturday morning!! ♥ them all!”

I was simply gushing about my wonderful family and how nice our morning together was. I was not prepared for the controversial debate on the subject of guns. Nor did I expect that such a simple post would have one person verbally attacking my parenting skills. I am very thankful for the friends and family that stood up for me and my decisions regarding toy guns in the home.

After rereading the hurtful comments by one individual on Facebook, I decided that I needed to defend my stance on children playing with toy guns. I realize that not all families feel the same way I do about toy weapons and that is ok. Each parent needs to decide what is best for their family and raise their children accordingly.

I wasn’t always a person that believed that raising children with toy guns was acceptable. When Remie David was first born I made the decision to keep toy guns out of our home. I thought that there was no need to introduce weapons into our home and teach a child about violence.  As Remie grew I realized that this way of thinking was unrealistic for a few reasons.

The first reason is that Remie Sr is a police officer and his job requires him to have at least one gun on him at all times. Besides Remie carrying a gun, I have also developed a love for shooting and own my very own gun. With a variety of guns in our home it is nearly impossible for our children not to become curious about the weapons. As parents, Remie and I decided that it is best for us to be open with our children about the guns in our home. We always keep our guns unloaded and in a locked safe. We believe that knowledge is power so we have taught our children to have a healthy respect for the guns and that they can ask questions and look at the ammo and gun as long as mommy or daddy are there to teach them about it. We have stressed that they are never allowed to touch a gun without mommy or daddy.

The second reason we allow toy guns in our home is because it is in children’s nature to play pretend. In the same way that it is natural for Charlotte to play house and nurture her baby dolls, it is natural for Remie and Isaac to play cops and robbers or war. Before toy guns were in our home, Remie was making apple slices, wooden spoons and anything else he could get his hands on into guns. He would pretend that he was protecting the family and saving the city. I believe that it’s God’s design for little boys to be the hunters and protectors while the little girls learn to be the nurturers. I’m not being sexist by saying that only the boys can play with guns. By all means, I like guns more than most guys and Charlotte is the first one to initiate a NERF war with the family. I’m just trying to stress the fact that God made boys this way.

I was accused of stealing my sons’ innocence by making them feel forced to protect the family. That is not at all what I am doing, I am simply allowing my sons to be the boys God intended them to be.