just pondering........

[brandy]

well, my oldest is turning 4 on the 3rd, so started to buy a few presents for him.
well argos had this really cool looking military set.. planes helicopters cars tanks ect...
the whole set is about 130 pcs. well
it says on the box.. goodies vs the badies.. with the goodies flag being the eec flag and the baddies being a skull and cross bones .
the play mat that comes with it is all desert. that raised an eye brow.
well, after opening it and looking at it.. i started thinking.. do i really want my little boy playing with this?
i was just thinking cool helicopters and planes cars and tanks..
so they can pretend to fly and drive.
not wage an exstensive war.
yet, the set includes oil drums, weaponry of every sort, even the jeeps have massive guns that go on the back of them.
even has barbed wire fences, any general in his war room would havea ball!
this is the cat. number for it in argos. *Grins* looks less ominous in the pic than in reality!
3693830

[cuddlepop]

so much for the policy on "safe play" .This is actively encouraging our wee ones to be aggresive.Its also leaving nothing too their imagination..Barbed wire... (it conjurs up a picture of desert warfare)
What is the in toy just now for a four year old?

[percy toboggan]

Boys will be boys.
My only concern though is the 'goodies and baddies' concept.
The lines are so blurred nowadays depending on your politics.
Were I a parent of a boy (I am, but he's 32 and Six foot three - and gentle) I'd steer clear of this kind of thing at four years old.
Perhaps a model castle or Viking warriors (we got similar for our g'daughter) at Christmas. This takes any sense of conflict out of the present idiom and represents more of a 'how things were' feel than any contemporary scenario.

[j4bberw0ck]

with the goodies flag being the eec flag

Ah, then there's no problem. The EU wouldn't dream of putting an army together to fight the baddies - they'd send 3 or 4 infantrymen with orders not to do anything after nightfall. So it's completely fictional

More seriously, there are generations of kids who grew up with toy guns, bows and arrows, swords, spears and later went on to own air rifles and went out all day long to play with them. A hugely overwhelming majority of them grew up to be perfectly decent, responsible, kind people without a murderous bone in their bodies.

Relax. There's time enough to put context on to weaponry and war and human misery when he's in his early teens.

[squidge]

I always think there is a balance - i started off not giving my boys guns and weaponry to play with but as soon as they were able they made guns out of duplo bricks and sticks and frying pans and the like. Percy is right - boys will be boys i guess.

I then decided to stick with "fantasy" armies, pirates and knights and castles and the like. I agree with Percy actually that this would be the best way to go. Its historical or fantasy stuff and it is a harmless way to play baddies and goodies. The early learning centre do a great castle and they have allsorts of figures, knights dragons and the like to go with it.

[brandy]

we have already bought it.. was on clearance *grins*
but hes only going to get parts of it..
he can have the soldiers and choppers and cars ect.. but not the other bits and pieces.. that turn it into a battle field...
i really do like the knights bits.. but was looking for something the 2 year old could play with too.. as these are quite big and chunky vehicles..
but i agree.. we played cowboys and indians as kids.. how un PC is that! *G*

[Max]

Yea we got th ELC castle when it first came out. It was nice becuase it is a wooden toy instead of all the plastic we seem to have. As squidge said you can buy loads of figures to go with it, witches, knights, queens, kings, wizards, it can be a Harry Potter type castle or a battle ground. My wee boy even put his soldiers and tanks in it at one time. He has grown out of it now but it was a great toy while it lasted. I think the difference is it was complete fantasy!

[Angela]

but i agree.. we played cowboys and indians as kids.. how un PC is that! *G*

I did too...a bit before your time though brandy

Back in the 1950s in a Scottish school playground Cowboys and Indians was a total fantasy! and a great escape from our real daily lives.

Kids will always dress up and improvise - we never allowed my son any toys that looked like real guns or knives or whatever, but still liked to pretend something as harmless as a wooden spoon could be a gun...

When he was older he loved Star Wars and had a lot of the toys...but again it was fantasy, and he's turned out a strong but very gentle and caring young man so I wouldn't worry abut your boys at all!

[danc1ngwitch]

Made ma own bows and arrows to swop wea ma bro for his guns lol.
We were allowed to say things like " i'll throw u in that puddle an u will die a horrible and grouuusome death" heehoo << wicked laugh.
But when my little boy said it in play one day i heard myself say " stop that what will people think" <<<<<<< see what will people think... It's play, so we should let em just play.

[chocolatechip]

if i was married and had kids we wouldn't allow that sort of thing because kids see all that sort of thing on the news and thats a bad thing,