So, as I was looking at the Christmas photos, I realized how many photos of weapons were included and felt I kind of needed to clarify (and it's a long story- sorry).
You see, I have always been the "no weapon mom". Back when the bigger boys were small, and I still thought I had a clue about the whole parenting thing, I decided that our home would be a "weapon-free zone". Pretty self-righteous. Anyway - my little boys didn't agree. They would make weapons out of Knex, twigs, hockey sticks, fingers, whatever they could find. I just didn't get it. I kept taking them away, explaining to the boys why it wasn't appropriate, and asking my husband "WHY do they DO that?!?!?!". To which he replied "They're BOYS." But I still didn't really get it - having been raised with all girls for the most part, I didn't have any idea what made my boys tick.
So how did we have "weapon Christmas"?? Well, let's just say, there has been a lot of time since then, another boy in the mix, and hopefully some wisdom from years of Boy Scouting, and saying "you did WHAT???!!!". Plus - it was all Evan's fault.
I think that Evan had every Nerf weapon ever made on his Christmas list. Seriously, he might as well have just handed me the catalog. That's ALL he wanted. And a calendar. (???) No other games, toys, clothes - just Nerf and a calendar. And I thought "why not??" - and bought a nerf gun. Nothing big & fancy. Just a basic thing with some suction cup ammo. And it was good. Until my brain kicked in. It would be a really bad idea to have Evan armed and not the other boys. So I went online and found a set with 2 weapons in it that would help the bigger boys to fend off the "8 year old shooting his big brothers with suction cups and having big brothers chuck said weapon into the snow to make him stop - phenomenon".
Then I realized that I had lost my mind.
When I told Alan what I did he got a good chuckle out of it & said something to effect that I had come a long way.
Then Colin went to do HIS Christmas shopping. He came home with a Nerf shotgun for Evan. (I'm sure this was after me commenting on Evan's list and realizing that his mother would never get one). And then Matt asked me to pick up ammo for Evan that would go with the shotgun that Colin got him. This thing was waaaay out of hand by now.
So on Christmas morning Evan got 2 weapons and the bigger boys got 2 weapons (not to mention the 2 pistols and extra ammo that came in their box that I didn't know about until Christmas morning) - 6 weapons and a boatload of ammo (the suction cup and velcro varieties). And it was mayhem. And it was fun. Nothing got broken. The girls got into the act. All 5 kids (and Dad) played together - and got along - for DAYS. And we had one of the most memorable & fun Christmas days ever.
And my parenting is officially in the toilet.
2 comments:
Well I'm glad that an experienced mother of five is still learning ~ it makes me feel much less inept! And Nerf guns don't really count as weapons...
Amen, sister. You are not alone in the toilet. Had the same policy when we had our boy...no weapons. Had the same experience with weapons being made out of Barbies and legos. Have already been down the Nerf route. THIS YEAR my husband brought home an air pellet gun. And a big ol' grin on his face. Yeah.
Add in video games that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I feel like a complete parenting failure. We're talking mostly Army games...no Halo or Grand Theft Auto, but still...
And the sad thing is that those Nerf guns really are a lot of fun. I'll admit I've tried them myself, and they are a great stress reliever!
Thanks for sincerely making me laugh today! Love ya!
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