My Little Son of a Gun
My son can turn anything into a gun. His fingers. A rubber band. String cheese. Other moms had warned me of this Macgyver-esque phenomenon in young boys, and boy oh boy, it is in full bloom at our house.
Recently, I tried to give some plastic hangers away and he almost cried because apparently they are his "crossbows." And as you can see below, our broom with attached dustpan doubles as a "rifle."
As we drive to school he asks me what kind of missiles or bombs I want him to shoot out of his "pumper"(a broken bicycle pump) at the bad guys hiding in the bushes. And my favorite of all?...The educational marble maze bought at the learning store that gets built into a "shooter," as well as colored binoculars to find bad guys to shoot, just not, heaven forbid, an educational marble maze.
Where does he get it? I've never bought him a gun, a bomb, a crossbow or anything of the ilk. I encourage toe-nail polish and tea parties in a gender open environment at home. Our television viewing veers toward Curious George and Yo Gabba Gabba, not GI Joe. Yet, the guns persist. Is this just what boys do? Is it just in their DNA? Will it pass, or will he be building pipe bombs and grenades and AK-47s come junior high school?
For now, all I can do is embrace the chaos of these imaginary violent weapons made out of household items. I can't make too big a deal out of it, because that just makes it all the more tantalizing for him. So I endure the constant spray of imaginary gunfire in the hopes that this too shall pass. On the bright side, at least he's using his imagination, so as long as he's shooting bad guys and not mommy, then we are all good. Now I just can't wait to get him to use the broom and dustpan for its original purpose…
-Diane Mizota, Host of This Week in M.O.M
