Some toy stores have already taken the step by removing from their stores the sale of war toys because they are not suitable toys for children and encourage violence among children.
It is the same thing that many parents think have a very clear norm: no guns come in at home. Parents who have decided Do not buy any toy weapons from your children nor allow them to give them away. And the question is obvious, is it okay for children to play with objects that in real life serve to kill? Does it make them more aggressive? Should toy weapons be prohibited?
Why not give them toy weapons?
Whether guns, submachine guns, shotguns, swords, arrows, knives, weapons in real life are used to harm or kill. Even if it's toys, transmit negative values. That is enough for many parents to choose not to give children toy weapons of any kind.
It is assumed that buying them a weapon is a way to promote the violence they cause. It doesn't make much sense that we teach our children not to hit or hurt others and then buy them a toy submachine gun, right?
How they play more than what they play with
It is understandable and respectable that many parents are opposed to buying toy weapons from their children, but choosing not to buy them does not imply prohibiting them from playing with "weapons." Keep in mind that toys are instruments for the game and children should be able to freely choose what and what to play with.
The symbolic game is the most important game in childhood in which children play to be other people. We cannot (nor should we) prevent children from playing cops and thieves, cowboys or war if they feel like doing it from time to time.
Although you decide not to buy them, children are a waste of imagination and will look for ways to invent your own weapons to play. They will create them with pieces of Legos, use a simple stick or take any toy as if it were a gun or a sword.
In short, it is not so important what do they play with but how do they play. Some video games, for example, are not a weapon and also encourage violence, and children can also display aggressive behavior by playing with dolls or with a ball than with guns. And that would be worrisome and what should be addressed, how do they play.
Does it make them more violent?
Of course a child will not become a murderer or a criminal because we allowed him to play with small arms. There is no relationship between the use of toy weapons in childhood and violent behavior in adolescence or adulthood.
According to Michael Thompson, child psychologist and author of 'It's a Boy! Your child's development from birth to age 18 ', "there is no scientific evidence suggesting that playing war games in childhood leads to aggression in real life. "
Violent behavior depends on many other things: the education we give them, the values we foster from home and of course the example we give them, how parents treat them. Aggressive parents, aggressive children.
Should toy weapons be banned?
All this leads us to wonder if it makes sense to ban toy weapons. After all, you put toys that represent dangerous objects. In the toy stores, we can see the kitchens, cars, then the building blocks and next to an automatic machine gun with noises and lights. It looks weird, like the thing doesn't fit.
However, it is a very subjective opinion and the ban would not be justified from a scientific point of view, since there are studies that prove the opposite of what many think at first: that children who have had contact with toy weapons in childhood, then show more cautious and responsible in situations of real violence .
There are countries that prohibit by law the manufacture and distribution of war toys, such as Colombia, Venezuela, Sweden (many years ago) and also cities like Brasilia, as a measure to contribute to the reduction of violence rates in that country.
There are even chains like Toys'R'Us in France that withdrew toy weapons after the Paris attacks to prevent them from being a source of confusion for the police.
However, in most countries they continue to sell without problems. If we go to the internet, we can get a good arsenal just a few clicks.
Sites like Amazon and El Corte Inglés offer all kinds of toy gun models in their toy catalogs, as well as specialized chains such as Toys'R'Us or Juguettos.
On the contrary, toy stores such as Imaginarium and Dideco do not include weapons in their catalogs. We only see guns to make bubbles, a laser aiming game (from 8 years old) or water launchers.
The ban would be a radical and certainly controversial decision, since there are parents who see nothing negative in toy guns. For now, each parent can decide and choose to buy them or not for their children. You, Do you buy toy weapons for your children? Do you allow them to play with them?
