Coming home from school: "Mom, we were playing Fire Rock today on the playground." "Fire Rock? How do you play that?" "It's a shooting game." [insert here my sermon against playing at violence.] "Who were you playing with?" [I asked because I am trying to figure out who is responsible for all this shooting business!] "Just my friends, who I usually play with. [said in a fierce voice:] Fire Rock is a Cape Guy, Mama!" "A Cape Guy? You mean a guy who wears a cape?" "Yes." A few moments later, said in a sweet three-year-old voice: "Mom, what's a cape?"
So Michael showed him what a cape was. Unfortunately, in that picture Henry is shooting Michael with a "shooter" (he doesn't yet know, or at least utter, the word "gun") made out of legos. His fascination with superheroes and shooting is massive, deep, and ongoing. I am helpless against it. The only thing that I console myself with is that every time I say that we don't play at violence, that violence hurts people, and that there is no pretending to shoot at people, I am at least communicating our values to him, which will hopefully sink in as he matures.
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