My Son ‘The Killer’

My son is in his final year of preschool. In just a few months my little man will be heading off to a new place to hang his hat and we’ll be faced with new challenges. We are still faced with the dilemma of where to send him, so I am glad that we have some time before we need to make the decision.

In the interim we have noticed that he learned new tricks at camp this summer, some good, some not as good. I am sure that my fellow parents are familiar with the changes that come from your child being exposed to older children.

One of the things that he has begun to do is talk about killing people. Most often this discussion is in the form of he and I being superheroes who are killing bad guys. The mother of one his classmates complained to me that her twin boys are having similar conversations and is quite concerned with what she calls violent talk.

Perhaps it is because I am a five-year-old trapped in a man’s body, but I am not real concerned about this. I remember playing with squirt guns and army men, I remember playing cops and robbers and any number of games in which we killed each other.

I didn’t grow up to become a killer. I don’t own a gun and don’t care much if I ever do, in part because if you break into my home I am far more interested in using a bat or mag light on you than shooting, but I digress.

The thing is that it is clear that the children do not really understand the significance of what they are saying. They don’t understand permanence or the severity of their suggested actions so I cannot get real upset over this.

I plan on speaking with him about his language because I think that this can be a good life lesson, but I don’t think that he is doing anything that is going to harm or scar him for life. There are important issues and lessons to discuss, but perspective should be maintained.

Tags: Family and People