milano
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Post by milano on Jun 16, 2017 10:35:13 GMT -6
What are your thoughts on them? Do your kids have them? Do you call them 'water guns' or something else?
J got like 20 of them for his birthday and I have mixed feelings. MH thinks I'm a little crazy about it. I've been calling them 'water squirters' and I told him he can only squirt people on their legs.
I wish they'd all just break so I can toss them and not replace them.
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sak
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Post by sak on Jun 16, 2017 11:03:10 GMT -6
I just wrote a book in response to this, but I don't know that any of it was very helpful. The short version is yes, we do squirt guns (and nerf guns). Guns in general are a huge part of the culture where I live, so from the time kids can sit up on their own they become inundated not only with guns but also gun safety. Gun safety classes are actually offered to our kids as early as kindergarten. But because real guns are everywhere, kids here grow up with a healthy respect and understanding of guns and are able to easily differentiate between those and water guns.
I do not, however, allow my kids to play with "real" toy guns. Do you know what I mean? The ones at are supposed to look like a rifle or cowboy revolvers or whatever? Like my children will often pretend that they are deer hunting, but never would they be permitted to play war or cops/robbers where you're shooting at someone. And pretty much every kid you talk to around this area would abide by those rules.
Again, I realize that some of this is cultural to my area.
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tj
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Water Guns
Jun 16, 2017 11:15:05 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Jun 16, 2017 11:15:05 GMT -6
We call them shooters. Tons of kids around here use them. Personally, I hate them. I hate getting squirted and I feel like they are breeding grounds for mold and bacteria. It seems like there is always water stuck in them somewhere.
Helpful?
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sak
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Post by sak on Jun 16, 2017 11:16:36 GMT -6
We call them shooters. Tons of kids around here use them. Personally, I hate them. I hate getting squirted and I feel like they are breeding grounds for mold and bacteria. It seems like there is always water stuck in them somewhere. Helpful? Oh are we just discussing them on a basic parenting-annoyance level? Because they're super annoying. They can never refill them well by themselves.
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tj
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Water Guns
Jun 16, 2017 11:18:22 GMT -6
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Post by tj on Jun 16, 2017 11:18:22 GMT -6
We call them shooters. Tons of kids around here use them. Personally, I hate them. I hate getting squirted and I feel like they are breeding grounds for mold and bacteria. It seems like there is always water stuck in them somewhere. Helpful? Oh are we just discussing them on a basic parenting-annoyance level? Because they're super annoying. They can never refill them well by themselves. I guess my point was not from a "gun" standpoint though we don't call them guns. My biggest issue is the grossness. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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mathrun
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Water Guns
Jun 16, 2017 11:27:40 GMT -6
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Post by mathrun on Jun 16, 2017 11:27:40 GMT -6
I just don't let my kids play with water. 😜
Just kidding. Really we mostly just buy the foam ones that aren't shaped like guns. They usually break quickly and I use that as an excuse to not buy more until the next summer. Mean mom over here.
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Post by CurlieWhirlie on Jun 16, 2017 11:27:44 GMT -6
We do nerf guns and water guns here. I 100% agree with the "no toy guns that look like real guns" and "no pretending to shoot and kill people" rules, we have those here also. We have the nothing-above-the-neck rule for both nerf and water guns. Every so often the kids will get really into them and have nerf wars in the house, but for the most part they lay around collecting dust. We do not live in an area where there is anything like gun culture, but regardless of how prevalent they are around your kids I feel about gun education the way I feel about sex education. If you deny they exist and never talk about them, you are more at risk.
As with any toy, if they're really bugging you then just "clean them up" and forget where you put them. But if your H is having fun playing with them with J, then maybe let him be the one to deal with them?
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milano
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Post by milano on Jun 16, 2017 11:31:59 GMT -6
sak we're in a similar rural area where guns are everywhere (and my husband owns a couple rifles) so I feel the same way about wanting my kids to be educated about them since they're unavoidable. My husband has a pellet gun that he uses to chase away wild ducks that come and try to hurt my ducks, and I told him I was fine with it as long as J never saw him shooting it. Or even saw him carrying it for that matter. I'm absolutely against toy guns that look real. I guess brightly colored plastic water squirters aren't the worst, although they are annoying. I also don't refill ours. MH loves them though, because he takes great joy in irritating me.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Jun 16, 2017 12:08:28 GMT -6
I have no parenting perspective about this yet, but from a kid's point of view, I loved water guns as a kid. And I grew up in a "Guns are bad and only used to shoot people" world. TW gun violence My high school lost 1-2 kids to gun violence every year, including a friend of mine. But I have zero recollection of water guns being equated to real guns. It was a water toy first and foremost. They had the same sort of rules as throwing balls (no aiming at heads, etc). I now live in an area with a lot of hunting and the daycare that I used to work at said that kids could "play guns" with sticks, etc. but could never "shoot" people with them, just things, which made sense to me. I don't know what the rules are at M's DC, but a couple days ago I saw a preschooler with two "guns" (one in each hand) that he was playing video game style with some other boys. I was very not in love with that.
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Post by brandiewine11 on Jun 16, 2017 12:29:06 GMT -6
I'm of the same opinion as SAK. We don't have any water guns yet (because annoying) but if we do it will be along those lines. My husband is a certified firearms instructor and we both have carry permits. Guns are something he will grow up around. He has not been introduced to them officially yet but last year he saw lots of shooting at our gun club when we would bring lunch fir his dad. milano if you have one in your house and they are common in your area, I highly encourage you to be familiar and comfortable with handling them yourself as well as allowing your child to be when the time is appropriate. Help yourself to be more comfortable around them and you will feel safer. The rule in my house is if it lives here, I have personally practiced loading/unloading, making it safe, and shot it. Even if just once.
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Post by charlotte on Jun 16, 2017 13:42:46 GMT -6
milano we're the same. As per. I'm not really concerned with DS confusing neon-colored guns that are clearly toys with a real gun. But just as a general rule he will not be allowed to play "violence" with them. Ie if he has a nerf/water gun he can use it to play "tag" or superhero or something, but no acting out killing/shooting someone with a gun. No toys that look like real guns in this house. My dad had a BB gun in his dresser that was meant to look real, and I accidentally found it as a kid and thought it was real. It was only when I mentioned it as an adult that my mom was like "... honey, no."
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Water Guns
Jun 16, 2017 13:54:47 GMT -6
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Post by critter015 on Jun 16, 2017 13:54:47 GMT -6
Basically what SAK said. We haven't really done water guns yet at home, but have played with them at Grandma's.
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milano
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Post by milano on Jun 16, 2017 13:59:53 GMT -6
@brandiewine that's a good point. I used to shoot with my dad when I was younger but it's been many years and I know that I have no idea how to operate one now. I'll have to have MH give me a crash course now that we're in the country and they're unavoidable. We have lived in urban areas for the past 12 years so they were out of sight out of mind. It's a whole different world out here!
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rockies
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Water Guns
Jun 16, 2017 17:26:11 GMT -6
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Post by rockies on Jun 16, 2017 17:26:11 GMT -6
We've struggled with this too. We both grew up around guns and shooting them. DH still goes out to do target practice and hunting. However we live in a different state than we grew up and now live in what could be perceived as a sensitive area due to events that happened years ago not too far from our home. The main concern was the sound effects along with playing with them, so I brought up my concern to a friend that is very antigun and she mentioned it was something that most little kids usually do..
So we have very set rules of no "shooting" sound effects (we've encouraged "splash" or "squirt" instead), no shooting at people/vehicles/animals, and no aiming at self.
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Post by sherminator on Jun 19, 2017 3:17:55 GMT -6
We call Nerf guns "launchers" the older they get the harder it is to control. Squirt guns suck really. We do a lot of water balloons instead.
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