Yesterday was "Wild West Day" (or whatever it was called) at school. The children dressed up as cowboys, outlaws, gold miners and "Women of the West." One of the teachers told the children they could bring toy guns to school. Accordingly, James brought a toy gun as part of his "bad guy" outfit. As soon as he arrived at school, his teacher--who continues to remain seriously opposed to guns (even toy guns) in her classroom--confiscated his gun and put it in her desk drawer.
Well, James really wanted his gun back. At 7:00 p.m., when I went to school with my outlaw son to see his evening presentation, James importuned me to get his gun from his teacher. When I entered his classroom, I saw Drew's father wielding a plastic rifle. Well, now....He asked the teacher for some scotch tape because the plastic stock had cracked. As soon as she saw me approach, she opened her drawer and handed the gun to me. I believe this was a kneejerk reaction to my saying "I think you may have overreacted" during our nighttime telephone conversation following the "offensive" magazine incident a couple of weeks ago. She told James he had to keep the gun in his pocket for the rest of the evening. I said, "But...how realistic is it for an outlaw to not have a gun?" She gave me the "oh, brother" look.
After the presentation, the boys ran out of the building, hollering...throwing their cowboy hats in the air, chasing each other with guns drawn...generally whooping it up....good ol' boy stuff. Isn't that what boys have always done?
Sure, you can take the (toy) guns away from the boy, but the more you forbid something, the more he wants the thing that is forbidden.
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