Pretend finger gun on playground

[Anonymous]

A little kid ( about 2-3 year old) pretend his finger was a gun on both hands & do "bang" sound chasing after my almost 4 year old on the public playground. My son was scared of the little boy, not sure if it was finger gun part or chasing/running after him part or both. He kept whining, running to hide behind me a few times but he still wanted to play hide & seek with him. I have never exposed anything relating to "gun" to my son & I think he got confused why the little boy kept finger bang him in his face, and that's not how hide & seek or how tag game play. That little boy seemed not to understand any English, and his dad kept looking at the phone the whole time. I felt uncomfortable with the situation, but I knew that the other kid was just playing & no harm would be done.

Gun topic is so sensitive, and it is wrong that the little boy doing those gun gestures on a playground. I have no rights to judge other parent parenting, but what would you have said or taught your kids relating to these matters? My son had a bad day at the playground because of that little boy. And on the way home, he kept saying that the little boy hurt him.

[Anonymous]

There’s nothing wrong with what that little boy did. It’s normal. I have three daughters and they have used their fingers as pretend guns. You could have just told the boy “he doesn’t like that” and mimicked the gun. You’re being a little ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I tell my kids that if they do not like the way another kid is playing, they should not play with them.

[Anonymous]

I recall news about kids got suspended from school because they use chicken nugget as pretend toy gun to shoot other kids at lunch hour or bring toy guns. Do they have these no any "gun" policy in dmv school ?

[Anonymous]

When my kids were little, I completely banned guns (not even nerf or water guns). It didn't stop them - they bit their pancakes into gun shapes and shot at each other, picked up sticks and did the same. At age 8 or so I relented and allowed the water guns (as long as they were colorful and din't look like an actual gun) and the nerf guns. I think if they are playing with other children (which is a good, healthy thing), it's inevitable.

[Anonymous]

Your 4 year old was running and crying from a 2 yo? Give him some emotional coping tools for crying out loud.

[Anonymous]

This can't be F ing real. We used to do the same thing when we were kids and nobody had a mental breakdown lolz

[Anonymous]

You should have video'd the kid then called the police. It would have gone viral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your 4 year old was running and crying from a 2 yo? Give him some emotional coping tools for crying out loud.

This. Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Way to overreact. Kids have been playing like this since guns were invented. You yourself knew that the kid was just playing and no one was going to get hurt, so why come on here and post about it?

And if someone was doing this to my kid and he didn't like it, I'd tell him that if he doesn't like how someone is playing, he can choose not to play with him. This is not a real problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my kids were little, I completely banned guns (not even nerf or water guns). It didn't stop them - they bit their pancakes into gun shapes and shot at each other, picked up sticks and did the same. At age 8 or so I relented and allowed the water guns (as long as they were colorful and din't look like an actual gun) and the nerf guns. I think if they are playing with other children (which is a good, healthy thing), it's inevitable.

I don't like guns but admire a kid who can bite a pancake into shape of a gun! He is going to go far in this world!

[Anonymous]

Don't buy your kids video games with guns in them. Oh, wait, guess your kid will be the only one not playing video games then.

[Anonymous]

We're coming off another weekend of multiple mass shootings with people losing their lives. You might not have reacted the same as OP, but how about a little empathy here? OP saw a young kid pretending to shoot at his/her kid. That's not great, and with the context of what is going on in the world, OP's reaction isn't over the top.

Just try empathy.

[Anonymous]

I’m admittedly a total lunatic when it comes to gun play. I’ve flat out told random kids on the playground (grantee, older than 2) not to point toy or pretend guns at my children and have left playgrounds when the gun play dominated. My young kids know how I feel about even pretend guns and the reasons for it. I think start by educating your own young child and giving him words to respond when others try to initiate gun play.

[Anonymous]

The reference to the kid being a non-English speaker makes me think this is a troll.

But on the off chance it's not, here are a few tips:

1) Explain to your son that the boy was playing a game. Use the word blaster if you don't want to say the word gun.
2) Teach your child how to navigate social situations; explain to him how to tell another child at a playground that he does not want to play a particular game or with that child.
3) Explain to your child that he was not hurt by this boy or this game and that there was nothing to be afraid of.

This is parenting 101, OP. If you can't figure this stuff out for yourself, you've got a long road ahead of you, and a tough one for your son.