Should we fear war games and toy guns? Of course, you don't want to encourage violence in your children, but are these children's games necessarily harmful?
Indeed, many parents question the propriety of war games and toy guns, fearing that they are passing on bad values to their children. And yet, since the beginning of the world, children have been having fun with fake guns, lightsabers, knight's swords. We may not play cowboys and Indians as much anymore, but war games still exist, and, contrary to what many people imagine, they are not harmful. They actually turn out to be a significant source of learning.
War games in general
It is around the age of three that the interest in war games appears and, if they are generally appreciated by boys, many girls like them too. Very broad, this category includes all role-playing games in which the child uses so-called " power " objects, such as guns, swords, lightsabers and even wands magical. Whether he's playing Spiderman battling a super villain, Harry Potter in front of Voldemort ora policeman in search of justice, he has fun playing a war game. In fact, most of these games are even inspired by shows he's watched, or a story he's read.
Note, however, that video games do not fall into this classification.
Bad reputation
As we mentioned, war toys don't necessarily have a good reputation. Supporting evidence: Toy'r'Us France this year took the decision to withdraw from its stores imitations deemed too realistic. Thus, many parents are cold at the idea of giving war toys to their children. This trend continues in daycare centers and childcare centres, where guns and other such toys are usually not found.
It makes sense: if there is one thing that many agree on, especially when we look at our neighbors to the south, it is that firearms are not to be taken at random. light. So, make a toy out of it? Funny idea, isn't it? No wonder we tend to ban them more and more!
A symbolic game
However, the experts don't seem to care. In reality, they claim that toy guns are, as their name suggests, mere toys. Moreover, children who play war are not really waging war: it is of course a symbolic game, in which the child pretends to be someone else acting in a fictitious situation. - and pretending is essential to the development ofthe child.
The French child psychiatrist Frédéric Kochman, among others, sees a great value in these games: they have a " cathartic " function. They therefore make it possible to exteriorize things that have marked or hurt the child during the day. Thanks to them, the child evacuates all the anxieties and stress he has accumulated. In short, instead of increasing aggression, they instead promote control of emotions, as well as imagination.
A child who attacks imaginary monsters is, for example, learning, in his own way, to manage some of his anxieties. And when they play in a group and gang up on a fictional villain, they're developing their ability to collaborate: that's a big deal! Thus, playing war helps to develop social and relational skills.
Against my values
Some parents still refuse to see toy guns or the like in their homes, since what they represent is against their values. If this is your case, you must of course respect yourself, but do not be surprised, and above all do not get angry if your child plays with this kind of toy in other people's homes. Besides, there will probably come a time when he will build swords out of cardboard or LEGO. And if your child has fun playing the "bad guy", know that this is completely normal. Moreover, by embodying a character that does not look like him, he learns empathy. In short, it is necessary, in most cases,de-dramatize the game of war and remember that the child knows how to recognize the difference between an imaginary game and reality. The parent, for his part, has an educational responsibility with his child, and this involves, among other things, the limits to be planted (after all, war is not a reason to hurt oneself!). Nor should we trivialize violence, which is often very important in superhero movies, so loved by our children.
