Playing Army

Seth had a friend spend the night. I have two 8 year old boys (and my two 11 year olds and 12 year old) trapped in the house due to severe weather. I have spent the last hour listening to their "playing" escalate to yelling and running in the boys hall. When they invaded my area I stopped Seth who was running through the house with the above pictured weapon. I asked, "Seth, what are the rules about playing with guns?" He did the whole 'moooomm' thing. I also asked about the rules for yelling and running?

He said, "mom, we're just playing." I asked if he was talking back? He sighed and said, "yes". He then followed with, "but mom, we're just playing Army."

How do I argue with that? Seth wears Caleb's dog tags 24/7 (seriously) and he lives to be a hero too. So what's the response? Mine was a compromise of my personal feelings, my values. I said, "NO running and NO yelling Seth." He looked at me questioningly, "We can play Army?". I smiled and said "Yes, as soon as I take a picture of your gun." Boys will find a way ya know? It matters not that I don't buy guns or allow them for play....boys will still play like boys!

I am not totally anti-gun. Years ago it became very obvious that guns really didn't need to be a mode of "play" in our house. For my boys who take hunters safety and go hunting....fine, actually great, but it is NOT a game.

Right now, I am back at a "normal... kinda.. whatever normal is" group of boys in my household. I can't fight a rolling tide, but I sure can manage the shore:) So now my boys are playing Army (semi-quietly).