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Parenting

22nd May 2016

Opinion: Toy Guns For Kids Should Be Banned

Sharyn Hayden

We are in the process of moving back into our house after having some building work done.

Even though we were ‘only’ out for four months, the moving back in process has literally been like moving house again.

There are a gazillion boxes of toys and approximately eleven hundred bags of clothes to sort out.

As I’ve been trudging through the toys – trying to figure what to keep, what to bin and what to send to the charity store – I’ve discovered that Jacob (4) has had three toy guns in his possession.

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‘How did that happen?’ I mused to my other half, because I sure as sh*t didn’t buy them for him.

According to him, they have been brought as presents at various birthdays from various adults in his life.

So, the question is: who the hell buys toy guns as presents any more?

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The days of innocent little boys playing Cowboys and Indians are SO over, and despite the fact that Ireland thankfully doesn’t have the same gun culture as places like The States, I am still not down with my young son ‘shooting’ other kids for playtime.

I would much rather he plays football, goes on searches for pirate treasure, builds a Go-cart, rolls down a few mucky hills with his friends, than pretend to KILL them.

The toy guns are no longer with us.

They ended up on neither the ‘Keep’ nor on the ‘Charity Store’ list, and good riddance to them.

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