Try as we might to keep Juma away from violent and fighting play, he just seems to love Power Rangers (having never seen the show), swords, hunting, and saving the universe Buzz Lightyear style.
I've given up on, "Juma, we don't play guns...Don't play like that," since he'll do it anyway, just behind my back. I'm trying a different tactic of trying to understand his games and rerouting them into less violent means. For example, if he's killing bad guys, I'll ask why he's killing them and how else can we deal with bad guys besides killing them.
One time, he had a hex tool with a 90 degree angle in it. He held it up and said, "It looks like a gun!" I suggested it looks like the letter L, and Justin suggested a 7. "Oh, yeah," he said, "it can be an L or a 7!"
For shooting games, at first I tried to say no, which didn't work. Then for a while I tried to reroute it into target shooting. (Now when I catch him shooting things, he says, "I'm shooting bad guys. I mean targets! Just targets!") Once I just decided to pretend hunt with him. We changed the game to hunting deer--but only as much as we can eat and fit in our freezer.
Yesterday, he and a friend turned lacrosse sticks into "ice swords," which they toted around on their backs by shoving them into their jackets.
Saturday, I found him throwing socks around the house.
Sarah: Juma, what are you doing? Why are you throwing socks around?
Juma: I'm trying to get the big rock that's trying to kill us.
Sarah: Why is a big rock trying to kill us?
Juma: We're dinosaurs.
Sarah: Oh, that big rock.
Juma: matter-of-factly The meteorite.
Lest you think he is nothing but a violent boy, he also loves riding bikes, looking for worms, swinging, sliding, playing with cars and trucks, snuggling with a teddy bear at night, hugging and kissing us, reading stories, and doing art crafts.
(And under the influence of the many girls in the neighborhood who are his age, he put on blue sparkly fingernail polish and bright pink lip gloss the other day.)
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