Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 02-28-2019 09:36 PM
    Hello All, 
    I am looking for a few articles for preschool families talking about pointing in the classroom and using shooting noises through out the day.  I have read Diane Levine's work on gun play.  I can't find an article that ties up her book for families. 
    I would like to include home/gun safety, how power play with pointing and noises interferes with messaging between children, how school can be free of gun play but home can make their own choices- hopefully with education about the importance of supervision. 
    Thanks, Kate

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    [Kate] [Williams-Hewitt]
    [Teaching Director]
    [The Children's Nursery School]
    [Portland] [Maine]
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  • 2.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 03-01-2019 09:52 AM
    I had this problem a few years ago. I was consistent telling childre that we do not play guns in school. It worked but took some time.

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    Cindy Morey
    Owner
    Little Folks Daycare Inc
    Minneapolis MN
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  • 3.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 03-02-2019 01:20 AM
      |   view attached

    Hi, I'm attaching an article by Diane Levin on gun play. My experience is that looking at this kind of material with a parent or parents in a parent teacher evening is a way to make a touchy subject: how children are allowed to play at home, easier to talk about.

    This touches on something I'm on a "listening tour" about with teacher of young children: how to speak to parents about the way time is spent away from the childcare center or school impacts attention, behavior and relationships in preparation for, among other things, a workshop I'm giving at the CAEYC conference Leadership day in April.

    I'd appreciate a 15 minute call with any of you hear on this site. Just email me directly and I'll accommodate your schedule.

    Thanks.  If I find anything else by Diane Levin and her co-author, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, I'll send it along.

    Be well,

    Mary 



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    [Mary] [Rothschild]
    CA]
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    Attachment(s)

    pdf
    levin_warplay.pdf   270 KB 1 version


  • 4.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 03-04-2019 10:24 AM

    Here's some information in podcast form: Teacher's Aide Strategies, Tools, and Tactics for the Challenges Teachers Face 

    This episode is called "Children Playing with Toy Guns and Imaginary Assault Weapons in School. Problem?" Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Jane Katch have some wonderful advice to offer.
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    Rae Pica
    Rae Pica Keynotes & Consulting
    Alexandria VA
    www.raepica.com
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  • 5.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 03-03-2019 02:43 PM
    Young Children, March 2018, page 86, has a good article on gun safety for children.  Appropriate for parents to read.

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    Elizabeth Werner
    Blessed Beginnings
    Cody WY
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  • 6.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 03-05-2019 02:40 PM
    Our school fully embraces and supports young children's exploration of power through play, including make-believe play with guns and weapons. The link Rae shared is great and hits on two of the authors our program revisits as mentors on this topic: Jane Katch, who wrote Under Deadman's Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children's Violent Play and Nancy Carlsson-Paige who has written many excellent articles on the subject. The key is aware, engaged guidance on the part of teachers in order to teach consent, social problem solving, and conflict resolution in order to help children create agreements to help keep the play feeling safe and fair for everyone involved. 

    Here's a blog I wrote on the topic last year geared toward parent education. 

    I also would like to tie this conversation back to the recent threads about rates of expulsion and suspension in early childhood education; one of the strategies I named to combat this destructive epidemic is eliminating zero tolerance discipline policies. One of the most common in early childhood settings? Banning war, fighting, and superhero play. 

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    Stephen Karmol
    Executive Director
    Wild Lilac CDC
    Portland OR
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  • 7.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 03-06-2019 07:46 AM
    I agree with Stephen. Many years ago I taught in a class of 3 year olds in a center that banned gun play.  I was out on a medical leave for 6 weeks.  On the day I returned the children started sitting underneath the tables and doing something with papers.  i asked the student teacher in the room what was up.  She said they had been playing pretend guns and sword games and had been told they weren't allowed to.  They literally went under the table to play these games.  After reading "The War Play Dilemma" by Levin and Carlsson-Paige I decided that as they played I'd ask some open ended questions about what they were doing and would set some guidelines.  They were into making swords by rolling up big pieces of paper.  A couple of rules were that kids could make these for other kids but adults couldn't make them for kids, and you could only play these games (which consisted of a lot of noise and waving swords around) with others who wanted to play them.  The games lasted for a few weeks and then disappeared.  The children had the opportunity to create games together, explore power dynamics, think about safety, exclusion and inclusion, and release some energy and tension.  No one got hurt and there was no extension into other parts of the day.  After the Marathon bombing I worked with a center that was seeing an increase in pretend gun play.  It made sense given what the children had experienced (police units with guns patrolling the neighborhood, being locked down for 24 hours, hearing explosions) and they needed a safe way to work it out.

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    Aren Stone
    Child Development Specialist
    The Early Years Project
    Cambridge, MA
    she/her
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  • 8.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 03-07-2019 08:09 AM
    Rather than echo what's already been posted about allowing gun play, let me offer a alternative thought. Families might not need an article from you about gun play; they may need media literacy information.
    If the gun play you're witnessing is about children imitating real-life adults in their lives, then you can address the issue the same way that you'd address any imitation of behavior that may be okay for grown-ups but not safe for kids (or perhaps you're looking at a situation best addressed by trauma-informed care). But chances are, most of the gun play (or superhero play) is sparked by imitation or integration of things that kids have seen in games, movies, or TV series. If they've just seen one thing, they'll play for awhile and then likely move on to the next thing - no need for extended intervention. But if the family media diet includes regular doses of gun violence, the need to keep working through the issue remains, and so will the gun play.
    Simply asking families to ban the entertainment they enjoy isn't a solution they are likely to adopt, and it may even backfire by disrupting opportunities for children to bond with the parent or guardian who is fond of such entertainment and eager to share that part of their media culture with their child. Very few adults have had an opportunity to learn how children process media or how to choose developmentally appropriate media, nor do they know how to spot the ways that children use play to work through issues that may be disturbing or confusing. You could provide a great service to such families by offering non-judgmental media literacy information.

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    Faith Rogow
    Media Literacy Education Maven
    Insighters Education
    Ithaca NY
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  • 9.  RE: preschoolers pointing and gun noises new in the classroom- educating families

    Posted 04-15-2023 09:33 PM

    Kate, here's a web page with a list of articles and blog posts about "violent fantasy play" including gun play. It also includes resources for talking with children about real violence and responding to actual violence in your child:

    Here's also a blog post about gun play on the Transform Challenging Behavior blog, written for teachers but could be relevant for parents:
    https://www.transformchallengingbehavior.com/blog/blog/got-preschoolers-playing-guns

    In my program we enforce consent in gun play ("You have to ask before you shoot" / "are you okay with that?" "Remember, ____ is not comfortable with gun play so you'll have to change this game or move to another area.") and have boundaries about what can be turned into a gun (can't use toys or found objects as weapons, only invisible weapons or what they make themselves).

    Best,
    Encian





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    Encian Pastel
    Children's Community Center, Gender Justice in Early Childhood, Bay Area Childcare Collective
    [City] CA
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