A little boy is suspended from school because he is playing cops and robbers with his friends and uses his finger as an imaginary gun. WOW! How can anyone have a problem with this?
I don’t know about you, but as for me and my brothers, we played cops and robbers as kids. We carried all sorts of imaginary weaponry in our imaginary arsenal. The most popular weapon we used was an imaginary pistol made by pointing our index finger at our target and using the thumb as the imaginary hammer to fire the imaginary bullet. What made it so realistic was the “BANG!” sound created by our vocal chords. I actually caused my brothers to obtain imaginary injuries and on occasion, an imaginary death. I was an awesome imaginary shooter! I don’t recall ever missing my target. I can only assume my brothers sometimes had imaginary body armor on because even when I hit them, they didn’t always fall to the ground as I imagined they would. As you can imagine, everyone who played cops and robbers ended up going on shooting rampages later in their lives… oh wait, that happened… NEVER!
What has happened to common sense in this country? Pretending is a natural part of growing up. As children, we take any common household item we can find and pretend it’s something else in an effort to be “grown up”, to imitate our parents or other role models. In a perfect world, isn’t a police officer someone we want our children to emulate? But you say, “what if the child was pretending to be the robber?” Now that changes everything. If I recall, my brothers and I took turns being the “good” guy and the “bad” guy. The reason for this is that you cannot play cops and robbers unless you have both cops AND robbers. If everyone was a cop, the game stops pretty quickly.
The school administration actually states that they have a policy about children playing with imaginary guns. When I read this, I had a flash back to all the movies I watched about the future when the “thought police” were able to arrest people based on what they were thinking. We should be thanking the school administration for getting this kid off our streets and preventing the mayhem he was obviously going to cause throughout his future lifetime. This child should be put away in a juvenile facility, before he infects other children with his capacity to pretend. What would happen to this country if we allow children to use their imagination as God intended. When I played cops and robbers, I actually knew the difference between my finger and the barrel of a real gun. I realize that this probably puts me on the “very gifted” end of the scale, so maybe it’s good that we don’t assume that other children can also tell the difference. That would be a stretch because your finger really does look like the barrel of a gun. I know my kids were often confused by it.
Just a thought, but if I were his parents, I would challenge the school’s policy based on whether or not the teacher reviewed the policy with the students on the first day of school so that they all understood what the acceptable forms of imaginary play were. I mean, a second grader might actually go wild with his imagination if he doesn’t know it’s wrong to pretend. I also wondered why none of the other children were suspended because they were playing too. I can only suppose that their weapons were concealed so that the teacher could not see them. And another loose end, how did they get all these imaginary weapons passed the imaginary metal detector? (Ok, that was a sarcastic remark).
Some people say that their children are afraid of guns and even imaginary guns. To that I say, “Why in the world would you infect your kids with your own personal fears?” Guns do not need to be feared, they need to be respected. I was raised in a house with guns. I was taught how to respect a gun. I learned the dangers of guns when misused. I learned it is wrong to point a gun, even if it is not loaded. I dare say that it is pretty much common sense to properly handle a fire arm. To teach your child to fear guns is to do a disservice to him or her. Yes, they need to know the dangers of guns, and they need to be aware of dangerous people who have guns, but to fear guns as an object is not right. Don’t the police carry guns? Should they fear the gun the policeman or policewoman is carrying? I think they should feel safe BECAUSE the police have guns. I just don’t understand this outright fear of a gun.
I can't believe this child got suspended. I definitely think the parents should be suing the school. The judge would probably think it's a joke.
ReplyDeleteI also love the point you mentioned about kids imitating police officers. I don't think people will think of that.
...and I still don't know the difference between my finger and a real pistol. It's amazing I haven't killed anyone yet.
I know. You were never the brightest child. And everyone thinks it's funny to play with your finger until someone loses an eye.
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on with this one Kevin. Children need to learn to respect not fear guns, even imaginary ones.
ReplyDeleteI recently learned of someone I personally know who had this happen to them. Her child is in kindergarten and used his hand as a gun during a "pretend" game he was playing with some other boys. His teacher called my friend and explained that she could not have this 5 year old boy making "those types of gestures." The consequence if the behavior continued would be suspension.
DeleteNow while I agree that it is ok for the teacher to inform the parents of the concern, I disagree with the idea that the child might be suspended for doing it. I also disagree that "pretending" is a bad thing, no matter what he might be pretending. If it indicates some deep seated psychological problems, because the boy was in fact being overly aggressive, which as I understand, he was not, then yes, let's discuss it early when it is first noticed. But to label pretending as "wrong" just because you don't like "what" the child is pretending is completely uncalled for.
Our President, who wants to do away with all guns for citizens, is calling for a war in a country we have no business being involved in. If a child pretends to be at war, is he wrong? After all, he is only "pretending" to be doing exactly what the President wants our military to do for real. Should we say that children who imitate their mothers and fathers currently in the military, are wrong for "pretending" to shoot people, when the President has ordered these men and women to kill one another? Is it wrong to "pretend" to kill others, but it's ok to do it for real if the President orders you to do it?
As an adult, I am very much a conscientious objector because I learned about the sanctity of human life, BUT as a child, I pretended to use guns. My pretending never lead me to act out in reality. Of course, some people will say that some children WILL act out what they pretend later in life, I just happened to be one who did not. So you're telling me that we should suppress ALL pretending that we fear might one day become reality because we can't determine who will and who won't act on it later?
Here's a question, out of the 300 million people in this country, how many actually took a gun and shot someone in cold blood? To the best of my research, there have been about 121,000 homicides committed with handguns since the year 2000. My math may be off but that is about .04% of the population that were involved in committing these murders over a 13 year period (since the year 2000). That is 1 out of every 32,500 people per year commit a handgun murder. Now, I am not saying that even one lost life is ok. Murder is a horrific act. As I said before, I believe in the sanctity of life. The point I am trying to make is that we are trying to indoctrinate our children into conformity because we are so fearful of everything that MIGHT happen in the future.