→ 8 answers so far ↓

• 1 MissBella // Oct 6, 2009 at 9:15 am

  I plan to have both sexes and they will be allowed to play with guns and barbies. I grew up on barbies (my grandpa worked at a toy factory, so I had it ALL) and I didn’t have any guns of my own to play with, but I think my role “house” playing would have been a million times better with one.
  Obviously, I would teach them that they are just toys and shouldn’t be taken seriously. (I haven’t gotten down my speech yet, so don’t judge me on this one). Seriously though, as long as they just remain “toys” I’m sure it will be okay.

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “hooray!”

• 2 phil // Oct 6, 2009 at 9:47 am

  This is purely theoretical since I don’t have any kids. I’m sure in reality I’ll do the opposite of whatever I say here.

  If you give sticks to boys, they’ll pretend they’re guns. Whether or not the kid grows up as a violent killer doesn’t have that much to do with what toys they get, their friends will have guns, porno mags, red scorpion on DVD etc no matter how strict you are.

  I would allow the toy guns that are bright orange plastic so that the boy doesn’t get mistakenly shot by cops. Those are the only kind you can buy anyways.

  Dolls are cool for girls but Barbies are problematic. The body dimensions of Barbie where they make girls hate their bodies wouldn’t be so much an issue (cause that will happen anyway if they ever read a book or magazine or watch a movie or TV show, take ballet class or talk to other girls) as the foot binding. How can she be an astronaut for example and yet still have her feet permanently fused like an old-time Chinese woman?

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “props”

• 3 beth // Oct 6, 2009 at 9:57 am

  Phil has a point – I am still in therapy over my huge un-binded feet.

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “[applause]“

• 4 Stace // Oct 6, 2009 at 10:45 am

  I grew up with both Barbies and guns. And guns of two types: real and toy.

  We didn’t get BB guns until we were 6 and we started practicing with them and 22s since then. I received my Hunter’s Safety license at 12. I think as long as you keep the real ones locked up and properly train the child into the proper use, it’s fine. Like Phil said, kids will use anything they find to pretend as a gun, so the toy part is kind of moot.

  Barbies are ok with me too. I grew up with them and I never thought I had to look like Barbie that I recall. But it will come with the talk that they are pretend and it’s ok to look different.

  As a note, I don’t have kids so this is all hypthecially based on what I would do today.

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “[applause]“

• 5 jon // Oct 6, 2009 at 11:39 am

  Not only could I not have guns my toys could not have them. My Mom would take the guns from the Star Wars action figures. I dont think this did anything except make me terrified of guns until I was older and shot one. I didn’t make sticks into guns because they were pretty far off my radar.
  I would let my kids play with anything they want as long as they are smart enough to realize the difference between play and reality. I’d rather they play with real guns then listen to BrokeNcyde.

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “word”

• 6 Joe // Oct 6, 2009 at 2:34 pm

  Yeah, real ones. For both.

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “unnggghhhh!”

• 7 blackviolet // Oct 6, 2009 at 5:02 pm

  I don’t intend to have any children, but if I did, male or female, they could play with both.

  I would also like to say that when I was little and my sister and I were scared something was hiding under the bed or in the closet, my dad would get out his shotgun and search the room for us. I always felt safe, because he said if anything ever fucked with me, he’d kill it. To this day, I don’t feel safe without a gun in the house.

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “I take my hat off to the person who made this comment”

• 8 prof. fancy pants // Oct 12, 2009 at 2:15 pm

  i’m thinking yes to guns and yes to barbie. ideally, they would use the guns to shoot the barbie, but i’ll let them figure that out on their own.

  current votes: 0 vote if this makes you say “real talk”

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