Well Armed

My son saved up his money from allowance and other sources and bought himself a bow. This was a pretty big step because he's now moving from toys to weapons. It's serious. It's a purchase he's wanted to make for a while, but until now we didn't give him permission. We set up a cardboard target and I taught him the basic safety rules and let him at it. He spent several afternoons shooting arrows before losing one. It actually took longer than I thought it would. Then he decided that he was ready to hunt squirrels in the yard. We went over the rule about knowing what you're shooting at, and what's behind it, and no shooting in the air. It didn't take him long to lose his second arrow. Now he's sitting around without any arrows thinking about what he could have done differently. We'll be out and about soon and will be able to pick him up more, but this thinking time is good.
Weapons and kids are a funny thing. My kids have Nerf swords and a Nerf guns and have a ball with them. Even with those toy weapons around, my son still wanted to make a bow out of a branch and some string, and arrows out of smaller sticks. He desperately wants to shoot the bb gun that I have locked away. It's not enough that he gets to shoot something, he wants to go farther, bigger, more dangerous. The safety of the Nerf products doesn't fuel his needs. I'm sure he'd be out back launching a bazooka if he could. Even though kids aren't allowed to play guns at school these days, that hasn't taken away their desire to. They have knowledge of these things that are dangerous and exciting and want to try them. I could probably clamp down and prevent them from touching any weapons at home, but that wouldn't really change the nature of the problem from a parenting standpoint. The problem is that weapons are inherently dangerous, and we don't want our kids to get hurt. The path my wife and I have chosen is to introduce them when appropriate for each child, and teach them how to use them as safely as possible. Shooting a bow isn't any more exciting if you're ignorant and dangerous than it is if you're knowledgeable and safe.
If you choose to let your kids cross the line between toys and weapons, take a few minutes and teach them how to do it properly. If they're not mature enough to take the rules seriously, then they're not ready at all. When they're ready though, you can help give them the proper information to make good choices and be as safe as possible with something that is by its very nature, dangerous.