Brit Gov says let little boys play with toy guns!

[MrD]

Not sure if they are anticipating a need for more military volunteers a decade from now, but I'd like to see just what is in this survey. Blue is for boys, pink is for girls. Guns are for boys and dolls for girls.

Is it that crucial to their development they are allowed to play with toy guns or is this another ploy the government has to control our education and provide a future workforce of their choosing?




Toy weapons 'help boys to learn'

Inspectors say girls outperform boys from the age of five

Boys in nursery schools should not be discouraged from playing with toy guns and other weapons, the government says. In guidance for nurseries in England, the Department for Children, Schools and Families says staff should resist a "natural instinct" to stop such play.
It says role playing helps create the right conditions for boys' learning and could help them become more engaged in education in the future.
Teachers have condemned the advice, saying toy guns "symbolise aggression".
The trouble with weapons is that the toy gun is often accompanied by aggression


Steve Sinnott
NUT


The guidance - entitled Confident, Capable and Creative: Supporting Boys' Achievements - says "practitioners" often find boys' chosen type of play "more difficult to understand and value than that of girls".
Boys regularly use "images and ideas gleaned from the media" as starting points in play, the advice says, which "may involve characters with special powers or weapons".
"Adults can find this type of play particularly challenging and have a natural instinct to stop it," the guidance continues.
"This is not necessary as long as practitioners help the boys to understand and respect the rights of other children and to take responsibility for the resources and environment."
Fostering these "forms of play" helps to "enhance every aspect of their learning and development", it adds.
Better results
Boys' underachievement in schools has been a source of concern for teachers and ministers.
Girls are more likely to get the benchmark five good GCSEs than boys and more girls do better at A-level.
Although noisy for adults such imaginary games are good for their development as well as good fun


Beverley Hughes
Children's minister


But the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has criticised the government's advice on toy guns.
General secretary Steve Sinnott said the problem with toy weapons was that they "symbolise aggression".
"The trouble with weapons is that the toy gun is often accompanied by aggression.
"The reason why teachers often intervene when kids have toy guns is that the boy is usually being very aggressive."
Gender stereotyping
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, said any nursery following the government's advice risked angering parents.
"Many parents take the decision that their children won't have toy weapons," she said.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Imaginative play is a good thing and leads to imaginative adults - not violent ones


Jon Cooper, Camborne



Send us your comments


"In addition to that, I think this is a clear example of gender stereotyping.
"I do not think schools should be encouraging boys to play with toy weapons."
But children's minister Beverley Hughes said the advice took a "common-sense approach" to the fact that many young children favoured boisterous, physical activity.
Many boys liked pretending to be superheroes or playing at "Star Wars characters with their lightsabres", she said.
"Although noisy for adults such imaginary games are good for their development as well as good fun."
But she added: "The guidance also impresses upon staff the need to teach children that they must respect one another and that harming another person in the real world is not acceptable."

[BetterDeadThanRed]

Boys naturally want to play with weapons. Big deal. Do toy guns symbolize aggression? Of course, humans are an aggressive race and trying to stomp out that aggressive instinct is probably the reason why the western world is so pathetically sedentary. When I first saw the title of this thread, I was expecting another socialist nanny state decision that will further force little boys to act like little girls, but I applaud the British government's decision. Good to see one western government doesn't have its head up its own ass.

[MrD]

Our government recently met to discuss the smacking laws. They had put a rule in a while ago to reduce/remove child abuse by saying no weapons, no leaving bad marks/bruises/cuts/grazes.

The end result is we are still allowed by law to smack our kids, within the guidelines. Common sense really because pleading from the pavement "johnny, please come back, please don't run into roads, please come here, lets have a little sit down and talk about our responsibilities" doesn't save your kid after he walks/runs into a traffic filled road. Smacking them gets through Pavlov style. You have to admit the premise that we are animals, intelligent animals, but we need training and socialising. We have no instincts like certain animals have upon birth. For the first year we are helpless, another year or three and we could reach food if we identify it. We don't achieve spacial perception till we are about ten years old...............

[G.Drew]

an interesting find, although i dont actually know what to say about this

[SiN|ScarFace]

A win for common sense.

[Spaz]

I played with guns when i was a kid and im not aggressiv

[Viper5]

Thanks to this thread I have an ad about internet sex offenders...

But yeah, not sure what the big deal is. I played with toy guns as a kid and I havent shot anyone unneccesarily...
*looks at Pence's old posts*
yet...

[<1sk>Headshot]

Nearly every normal boy pretended they were a soldier or played with guns at one point.

[ZaZZo]

Let's hope they allow them to play with proper guns soon...

[[R-MOD]Bob_Marley]

This advice conveniently comes almost 2 months after the same government banned anyone under 18 from buying toy guns, and anyone who doesn't have what is considered to be a specialised interest, such as reenactors or airsofters, from buying realistic toy guns.

A fine example to joined up thinking there.