Mr. Rogers' essay!

It's a draft!

37.  Many parents do not allow their children to play with toy guns. In your opinion, is this a wise decision? Explain what you think parents should do about toy guns and why.

38.  In one of his most famous lines, Shakespeare’s Hamlet says, “I must be cruel, only to be kind.” Describe a time when you, too, had to be cruel to be kind.

As children develop and age, they pass through several developmental milestones. These hallmarks indicate their progression through the capacity to differentiate fantasy from reality. As we age, we become capable recognizers of these realms, and know when a dream is a dream, and reality can speak for itself. Young children, until roughly the age of 6 can barely tell the difference between what they think is real and what is real. As toddlers play, they use make-believe to make reality of their dreams; this often manifests as playing house with a cardboard box, a car race, a jenga stack, or even a lego world. Imagination is a powerful tool to empower young minds, but when youngsters can’t differentiate between the real and fantasy, the wrong toys can invite disastrous behaviour. Toy weapons like plastic axes, swords, or even toy guns bring about in children the question of their function in real life and enable impulsive drives to dictate the use of these toys. This is fundamentally why toys that have violent implications are not suitable for young children.

Though we like to see children as innocent, the impulsive nature of youth is not a question of purity, but rather a question of problem solving. Young children who possess a toy such as a plastic axe or sword will inevitably seek out its parallel in reality; they may even model themselves after the behaviour of others who wield such weapons. Seeing how adults wield weapons of war while possessing a toy with such a likeness effectively teaches children at a young age how to be violent.

There is a time and a place to learn what guns and weapons are, but this must be at a time when the subject can process the significance and responsibility that comes with this. Consider the example of the youth who becomes infuriated when facing a loss. At a young age, managing anger is difficult, and it’s not unusual for children to lose their temper at a loss. As we age, we learn to manage our anger and pursue self-control to keep ourselves from punching a wall or inflicting harm. This state of mind, though common in young children, also means they are not ready to connect violent fantasies with coping mechanisms for failure. Empowering children with more violent expressions to manage anger is nothing but an invitation for disaster.

Though it is said that violence begets violence, it is ultimately our ability to regulate our thinking that determines how our perception of violence and its propagation unfolds. Toys that suggest a violent use invite children to explore them and likely misuse them. As children develop they eventually will have the means to understand the gravitas of what these items represent, but until they reach that point its extremely unlikely that they will be misused. When faced with frustration and failure, providing children more tools to violently express themselves is a mistake. It seems neglectful to keep certain toys from children, but such a statement must be met with the acknowledgement that parents sometimes must be cruel to be kind.