Let's Go Hunting!

Hunting is huge here in good ol' Minnesota. As a result, toy guns are found in most homes. It's as natural as barbie dolls and yellow tonka trucks. To most Minnesotians. (Is that a word?) But, not to me. Having grown up in a non-hunting home the first 12 years of my Mn. life, I wasn't exposed to guns. Real or toys. Having spent the next 20 years in a state that had a lot of violence, most incidents involving guns, I have a real fear/hatred for them. So, imagine the tension/anxiety that comes from marrying a hunter! I posted awhile back about giving in and buying Landon a few dart and toy guns. Occasionally he will let the daycare kids play with them. They LOVE them! One of their favorite games is "Hunting." They take our stick ponies (A horse head on a stick) and pretend they are rifles. I draw the line at what they can shoot at though. We have a picture of ducks flying over a lake in our daycare room. They can shoot at the ducks in the picture, or at the ceiling at imaginary ducks. They also can shoot at the stuffed animals and pretend they are deer. They can not shoot at each other or the cats. If they do, they lose their pony/rifle. One little daycare boy has been begging me to get "daycare guns like Landon's." Every time I go to Walmart, I look at the silver toy pistols and the long brown plastic rifles. The thought of ten little kids running around with those guns actually makes me feel physically ill. I just can not do it. But on my last trip to Walmart, I spotted some really cute water guns! They were the perfect size, not too big, not too small and they came in bright yellow, red and purple colors! They were just right! I scooped up a dozen and threw them in the cart! I could hardly wait to show the little boy who had been wanting them so badly. He and his sister were the first to arrive this morning. I showed him the guns and he picked up a red one and grinned. He wasn't overly excited, but he's a little shy and it seemed like he really liked them. He and his little sister took the water guns into the daycare room to play with. After a few minutes, I noticed that the little boy was holding the gun backwards. Not by the handle. Also, he was running it over one of our wood puzzle boards. He also had a board out for his sister and was showing her this new game. Turns out, he thought the water guns were the perfect saws! After a few minutes of "sawing," he said to his sister, "Want to play hunting?" She said, "Yeah!" and they both went and got a stick pony and started shooting at the picture on the wall of the ducks. Guess he wasn't impressed. Sigh. Back to the drawing board....(One the plus side, I know what I'm getting him for his birthday!)