Recap: Child turns a Barbie into a gun; teacher consults Standards Manual and "gives the child points for demonstrating curiosity." Teacher/readers who have been discussing the meaning of gun play are relieved to be able to turn their focus to Barbies.
Barbies and guns are part of children's lives, and for teachers who want to move from Things that give us conniption fits, to What am I missing?, it can be helpful to look for connections to other parts of our well-thumbed Standards Manuals.
When children turn objects into pretend guns, it behooves us to remember that the ability to substitute one object for another is a stepping stone to solving for X (see algebra).
When children substitute one object for another, they are laying the groundwork for creating similes, metaphors and analogies, and for making music.
Danielle, age 3: Barbie went up to water and then she swimmed down to the light. She got the zipper and she put it up to the light. The light worked and there was a baby crying in the water.
Hailey, age 4 (draws musical notes while dictating): I wrote music. It's a Barbie song.
Barbies, musical instruments and toy guns all belong to the category of things children are not supposed to bring from home. Storytelling and story acting gives children the ability to bring the ideas of these objects into the classroom story, where they can be used for flexing emotional regulation muscles while children practice the aforementioned music, math and literacy skills.
In this last story we see dialogue, and Barbie as transition object between home and school - a way to practice resilience while exploring a sense of self.
Amarria, age 4 (dictating while drawing): That's my mom. Barbie. She's dancing at work. She's just gonna talk like that (tips head to demonstrate). She's gonna talk to daddy. She's gonna say who is this? This is me, your daughter.
For story acting, the moral of the story from the adult point of view could be research-related (Theories R 4 Testing): What will happen if, when we miss our moms, rather than being sad, we pretend that all the moms are dancing?
And then somebody could say, Well, what about the dads?!
Resa Matlock
(where Theory Into Practice is a work in progress)
Original Message:
Sent: 6/20/2023 11:47:00 AM
From: Maria Uribe
Subject: RE: Gun Play
Hello all,
I have been on this field for two decades and I cannot see how Barbies can be included appropriately to a curriculum at such a young age. There are parents as community workers that can volunteer and be part of the children's learning experience. Barbies are fancy dolls that are created far from reality for many of the families. I do not have anything against them neither the creator. My own children were the creators of their own dolls made out of leaves , sticks, pinecones and more.
The children from my program are involve with the same view and they are very creative and enthusiastic about discovering things to be used.
The more hands-on, the better results.
Have a great day everyone!!
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Maria
Early Memories FDC
MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-18-2023 09:29 PM
From: Margery Heyl
Subject: Gun Play
Well, Barbie gun is one thing to do with what the kids in one classroom called the "mommy dolls". And there have definitely been threads about the appropriateness of Barbies in the classroom.
Also rereading my post I notice that my phone autocorrected "and" to "sandwich" in the title of the upcoming workshop i wanted to let everyone onow about. So weird! Apologies to Early Childhood Investigations and Mike Haber - The correct title is "Making Peace with War Play: Exploring Consent and Power in the Preschool Classroom"
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Margery Heyl
IL
Original Message:
Sent: 06-18-2023 09:54 AM
From: Jared Lisonbee
Subject: Gun Play
The most interesting example of improvised gun play I saw occurred while I was collecting observational data in a preschool classroom for my dissertation. A boy went to the doll table that had a variety of dolls--including Barbie type dolls (which could start an entirely different conversation about appropriateness of Barbie dolls in preschool classrooms). I watched with interest because I was anticipating observing an example of "non-gender stereotypical behavior." The boy picked up a Barbie, looked at it for a second, bent the doll at the waist, held the upper torso like a gun handle with the doll's legs forming the barrel of the gun and then proceeded to run around the room pretending to shoot things with the "Barbie gun."
Even though it violated the classroom prohibition about gun play, I had to hand it to the child: He was definitely meeting the "curiosity" learning standard of "Explore and use materials during play and exploration in new and different ways."
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Jared Lisonbee, Ph. D.
Preschool Education Specialist
Salt Lake City, UT
Original Message:
Sent: 06-15-2023 07:41 PM
From: Margery Heyl
Subject: Gun Play
Thanks for the link, Rick. The half eaten sandwich as gun was the one that got me - that and the number 7 from the number puzzle.
Early Childhood Investigations is offering a free online training in August called "Making Peace with War Play: Exploring Consent sandwich Power in the Preschool Classroom" with Mike Huber
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Margery Heyl
IL
Original Message:
Sent: 06-13-2023 09:13 PM
From: Rick Rood
Subject: Gun Play
For what it's worth, here's an article from almost 10 years ago when I took on the weapon-play issue. Amazingly, years later, I still feel the same way.
https://youthtoday.org/2014/06/shootout-at-the-ost-corral/
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Rick Rood
Trainer/ Teacher / Coach
Transformed Teachers
NM
Original Message:
Sent: 06-12-2023 08:09 AM
From: Aren Stone
Subject: Gun Play
I apprecciate this discussion and all of the contributions. I don't think I've seen the book "The War Play Dilemma" by Diane Leven and Nancy Carson-Paige recommended yet. "Using a developmental and sociopolitical viewpoint, the authors examine five possible strategies for resolving the war play dilemma and show which best satisfy both points of view: banning war play; taking a laissez-faire approach; allowing war play with specified limits; actively facilitating war play; and limiting war play while providing alternative ways to work on the issues."
I learned so much from this book when I was a beginning teacher and saw this playing out in my classroom. These are some of the things that Scott writes about in his recent response. I found that banning play simply doesn't work. Children continue to fashion guns or other weapons behind the backs of the adults; in my classroom, literally sitting under the tables and fashioneing paper swords when they were told that it wasn't allowed. We made safety rules instead: Children could use pretend guns or swords only with other children who were playing the same game. No pointing at people's faces. Adults don't participate in this play. If someone says stop they immediately stop. We also talked about why they wanted to play and the fact that this is pretend. The amount of weapon play went down within a couple of weeks, and the amount of problem-solving discussion increased. These children were 3.
I agree that children are sometimes working out unfortunate real-life difficulties in this play. We saw an increase in weapon play in classrooms after the Marathon bombing, for example, after we had a day of lockdown in our homes. I wonder about the differences now that more children see guns both in their neighborhoods--though for many children this was always true--and in the media. It has become more traumatizing for adults to witness this play since school shootings have become so sadly a feature of our lives. Does this change what we do in the classroom? I'm not sure. It does change our responses as adults, though. And I also appreciate the voices of teachers who work in populations where many parents have guns as hunters and/or police officers, which also changes the conversations among the childrena and the adults. No easy answers.
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Aren Stone
she/her/hers
Child Development Specialist
The Early Years Project
Cambridge, MA
Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2023 10:00 PM
From: James Mitchell
Subject: Gun Play
It seems as though my response struck a nerve with a few. I can see where my tone was terse and perhaps arrogant. I apologize. In response to the specific comments and questions put my way.
a) I agree that look alike guns can put people at risk. I do not stock look alike guns at all in our center and would ask anyone who brought one from home to find a different item to bring. When I think of pretend gun play in early learning centers I'm thinking about sticks, magnatiles, paper towel rolls, fingers, etc.
b) I tried to show respect for the colleague who asked the question by answering their question of how to handle it by suggesting involving the kids in finding a solution through conversation, collaboration, resiliency and compromise, which are skills we are hoping to grow and develop.
c) Prohibitions rarely work. They actually tend to drive behaviors into the shadows.
d) I know it's sensitive topic. It causes me an immense amount of grief to bear witness to the amount of gun deaths in my home country. I fail to see prohibiting pretend gun play in early child hood settings as the solution though. I more see the development of kids who are in touch with their emotions, able to talk about them, and collaborate/compromise with others as closing the gap on where we are and where we would like to be.
e) For the record, I'm not a gun owner. Never have been. I don't see myself ever becoming one either. I did engage in pretend gun play as a youth.
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Scott Mitchell
Teacher
Silver Spring Nursery School
Maryland
Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2023 01:32 PM
From: Christine Bizzell
Subject: Gun Play
Perhaps the question is not about whether or not there is a direct correlation between gun play as a preschooler and killing someone with a gun as an adult. I don't think that question is very interesting, and the logic is questionable. Is there a direct correlation between gun play as a preschooler and resilient, good mental health as an adult? It's more complicated than that and anyone who feels they have the absolute correct answer to this discussion topic is no longer listening to the other colleague. How can we model listening and advocating for children when we ourselves are not able to try to see the point of view of someone who disagrees with us? The willingness to sit with discomfort as we listen to each other is more important than ever for a just and equitable society. The ability to own our own privilege, to look hard at how violence in general and specifically gun violence has shaped our identity as a country, a nation, and how our current culture supports the fact that guns are the number one killer of children/not adults, but children. If we think children don't "know" this, then I believe we are not listening to them, either. I will not become so rigid in my teacher identity that I stop being open to different viewpoints, that I stop listening to the wisdom of families and colleagues. For me, the question is "How do we collectively create a culture that protects the lives of the most vulnerable members of our society?"
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Christine Bizzell
Co-lead teacher
Wild Lilac Child Developent Center
OR
Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2023 05:28 PM
From: James Mitchell
Subject: Gun Play
The apprehension people have with "gun play" fascinates me. It's not a gun. I repeat, it's not a gun. Just like it's not a magic wand, and the floor isn't really lava. Given that there is zero (to my knowledge) connection between pretend play involving pretend guns and adult dangerous deviant behavior, I treat gun play the same way I treat magic wand and lava play. If it's bothering another child, we work it out. I teach the other child to speak up for their discomfort, or turn away and ignore, whether they are being pretend shot, pretend turned into a toad or pretend burnt up by lava. And I teach the child with the pretend gun, the pretend magic wand or the pretend to find willing playmates or focus their play in other ways. Again, it's not a gun.
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Scott Mitchell
Teacher
Silver Spring Nursery School
Maryland
Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2023 07:48 AM
From: Elizabeth Weller
Subject: Gun Play
Hello,
We have a child who is very focused on gun play. He squints one eye and points his fingers at people like a gun, runs around the room making machine gun noises, and will tell people to duck because there's a bomb. The teacher has tried talking to his mom, and she says "That's what boys do." He has teenage brothers, and I would imagine they are probably playing violent video games around him. Does anyone have suggestions for how to redirect this behavior?
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Elizabeth Weller
Director
Park Place Children's Center
Anderson IN
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