Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Superhero Play

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • momofsix
    replied
    Too cute! One time my dc boys were playing dinosaurs, and I had a girl that day too. She wanted to play with them, and about two minutes later the dinos were having a wedding!

    Leave a comment:


  • sahm2three
    replied
    Today my superhero's were dressed in there hero getup and pushing baby strollers around and carrying diaper bags and holding baby dolls. It isn't always getting the bad guys! LOL!

    Leave a comment:


  • momofsix
    replied
    Thank you SO much for all the advice. I think I'll try letting them play their "boy" things and try not to let it get to me But I think I'll limit some things. We talked today about what they thought would be appropriate guidelines for their superhero selves while they are here, and they agreed that no fighting real people and no weapons were good (although since some superheros almost are weapons themselves I'm not sure about how that one will play out!) I guess I'm still learning about the boy things!::

    Leave a comment:


  • QualiTcare
    replied
    Originally posted by sahm2three View Post
    I completely and respectfully disagree. I don't think the pretend play has anything to do with kids killing classmates. I think there has to be rules, but I think that is quite a stretch. Now if we were talking about 12 and 13 year old boys doing this, maybe that would raise a red flag, but at least in my home we are talking about 3 to 8 year old boys! They are fighting aliens and bad guys! I have rules like no pointing the toys guns at eachother, no hitting with the lightsabers/swords. I didn't have guns and swords and etc in my home for a LONG time. Then I just came to the conclusion that boys with make guns and swords out of ANYTHING! I remember one day when my first son was about 3 or 4 and he ate his sandwich into the shape of a gun! Sticks are guns and swords. My kids (and I am teaching my dck's) know the difference between right and wrong, and real and pretend. So I am going to let them be kids and have fun! Guidance and love is what I am there for!
    actually, i don't think we do disagree completely. i don't think pretend play has anything to do with killing classmates either. i DO think that allowing kids to play cops and robbers or superheroes (involving weapons like the OP mentioned) is not the best idea if these children go to school or will be going. even talking about weapons, or making a comment about shooting another child (yes, even when playing) is taken very seriously since school shootings started. it might be ridiculous, but it's reality.



    i'd be having water gun fights with my kids all the time if it were up to me. well, i guess it is up to me, but for me it's just not an option to allow any kind of talk or play about guns. even still, i got warned by my daughter's daycare director about the shooting comment she made. i was shocked, and come to find out - another child had said to her, "i'll shoot you and your mom," to which she replied, "i'll shoot everyone." they didn't tell me the part about the other child saying what he said - just told me my daughter "threatened" to bring a gun and shoot everyone. it was hard explaining to her why she couldn't talk about guns or shooting ever after that even though she's never been exposed to weapons real or play. i can't imagine how hard it would be to make a child who was allowed to play pretend with weapons to understand that they couldn't do it anymore.

    Leave a comment:


  • AfterSchoolMom
    replied
    I second that! I think that's a great way to look at it - the best of both worlds.

    Leave a comment:


  • Daycare Mommy
    replied
    Originally posted by DBug View Post
    I like to try to channel my boys' superhero tendencies towards real-life hero scenarios -- fire fighters, doctors, police officers. It doesn't always work, but they are naturally more active and looking for excitement for a reason -- they're born protectors. Instead of focusing on there being a bad guy, I like to focus on how they can help someone. Like "Oh no! The climber is on fire, and someone is trapped! We have to help them!".
    Excellent point and great ideas!

    Leave a comment:


  • DBug
    replied
    I like to try to channel my boys' superhero tendencies towards real-life hero scenarios -- fire fighters, doctors, police officers. It doesn't always work, but they are naturally more active and looking for excitement for a reason -- they're born protectors. Instead of focusing on there being a bad guy, I like to focus on how they can help someone. Like "Oh no! The climber is on fire, and someone is trapped! We have to help them!".

    Leave a comment:


  • Daycare Mommy
    replied
    Originally posted by nannyde View Post
    See the problem is what the OP said in the begining. These two YOUNG boys won't do anything else. It shows that they are completely unable to be creative in their play. They aren't well rounded they are fixated on this type of play. It's highly stimulating to crash, fight, dominate, battle, war, etc. but it's NOT stimulating to build a block castle. I want kids who can BUILD there immagination not copy and reinact aggression that they see and play on video games.

    I don't care if it's normal or not. I don't want them doing that at my house. They can spend their evenings and weekends doing it but here I expect a much higher level of self entertainment. I don't want kids entire play to be copying the stuff they see on violent video games and cartoons. They don't just pick and choose the "good" acts of the superhero's and base their play on that. These guys are picking the fighting part of the superhero's and fixating their play solely on that.

    ANY time you have kids only being able to play one thing one way it's a problem. It always escalates to some kind of hitting, fighting, fake fighting, etc.

    There's a reason why video games are SO popular. They are the highest level of entertainment to a child that leads to the least possible amount of imagination and creativity. I want kids who create their own happiness here. Happiness THEY come up with not happiness they copy from tv or video games.

    If they did this kind of play five percent of the time they were free playing or even ten percent that would be different. These kids will accept nothing short of THAT level of play with everything they touch. It shows clearly that they do not know how to play. They don't know how to take simple childhood toys and play with them in the spirit they are intended to be played with. They have to turn everything they touch into a reincactment of the fighting they see in video games and TV. It's time for them to BUILD with the blocks, spin the wheels on the cars, put the babies in the strollers, make a lunch out of the fake food, bead the strings with the beads, mold the play doh into spaghetti. etc. etc.
    Well can't the provider just lead them into expanding their play without complete redirection? "Hey guys! I see an army of evil book-eating robots marching on the horizon! Quick! Help me build a fort to protect our books and keep them out!" To deter violence you could tell them that the robots are invincible except that they will short out if they get wet. So some kids may grab cups from the housekeeping center to throw water on the robots and another kid may choose to be Storm from the X-Men and make it rain on the robots and save the day. Now we're building with blocks, conveying that books are important, and we can branch off and talk about rain/clouds/weather and recite Jack and Jill. Just a silly example, but you get the general idea though. And through reading related or semi-related books that can help shift the play in different directions as well. It's not that big a leap from superhero to heroic knights in fairy tales. Then bam, they are into books and that is one of the best gifts we can give these guys in their early years. Not just the ability to read, but a love of books.

    Leave a comment:


  • nannyde
    replied
    Originally posted by AfterSchoolMom View Post
    Everyone keeps mentioning guns, knives, hitting, punching, wrestling... I agree that those things should be discouraged in a daycare setting. I don't think that playing superheroes is something to discourage at all. You CAN have one without the other.

    I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, and normally I am very non confrontational, but...

    I don't understand why society began making all of boys' natural outlets for normal "boy" feelings and behaviors taboo and encouraging nothing but fluffy fuzzy cuddle time. If you ask me, I think THAT is what has caused this shift to kids becoming violent at young ages. Just because a little boy likes to pretend that he's a superhero does not mean that he'll grow up and shoot people. As long as you are discouraging him from hitting or wrestling, if he wants to stage a battle between the pigs and the cows, where's the harm?
    See the problem is what the OP said in the begining. These two YOUNG boys won't do anything else. It shows that they are completely unable to be creative in their play. They aren't well rounded they are fixated on this type of play. It's highly stimulating to crash, fight, dominate, battle, war, etc. but it's NOT stimulating to build a block castle. I want kids who can BUILD there immagination not copy and reinact aggression that they see and play on video games.

    I don't care if it's normal or not. I don't want them doing that at my house. They can spend their evenings and weekends doing it but here I expect a much higher level of self entertainment. I don't want kids entire play to be copying the stuff they see on violent video games and cartoons. They don't just pick and choose the "good" acts of the superhero's and base their play on that. These guys are picking the fighting part of the superhero's and fixating their play solely on that.

    ANY time you have kids only being able to play one thing one way it's a problem. It always escalates to some kind of hitting, fighting, fake fighting, etc.

    There's a reason why video games are SO popular. They are the highest level of entertainment to a child that leads to the least possible amount of imagination and creativity. I want kids who create their own happiness here. Happiness THEY come up with not happiness they copy from tv or video games.

    If they did this kind of play five percent of the time they were free playing or even ten percent that would be different. These kids will accept nothing short of THAT level of play with everything they touch. It shows clearly that they do not know how to play. They don't know how to take simple childhood toys and play with them in the spirit they are intended to be played with. They have to turn everything they touch into a reincactment of the fighting they see in video games and TV. It's time for them to BUILD with the blocks, spin the wheels on the cars, put the babies in the strollers, make a lunch out of the fake food, bead the strings with the beads, mold the play doh into spaghetti. etc. etc.

    Leave a comment:


  • Vesta
    replied
    I've put more thought into the super hero thing.... it seems my kids never get too far past the planning stages. They spend most of their time discussing who gets to be what and getting their capes (old aprons) on. Usually their game involves running up and down the garden paths and striking poses.
    If they do get into it, it's a lot of rescuing from sharks and such.

    I cannot recall a time I've had a problem indoors, because I have a very strict no horseplay policy and just no, not inside. We save it for outside, which, weather permitting is usually a good 3 hours a day.

    I don't like the kids playing guns and tell them no guns at my house, but wow the things that can be done with a thumb and index finger. Usually I just ignore it and teach the other kids to turn away from it, and the behavior is typically extinguished.

    It does make me a little sad that so much of the make believe play is based on what they see on television and video games, but I don't control what they watch at home.
    They don't watch television here, and I don't let them tell me television super hero stories when I take dictations, but that's about all the control I feel comfortable exerting on their imaginative play (outside of physically or emotionally hurting each other).
    Hell, I've had some kids who I would have been thrilled if they could have pretended anything without my direct instruction.

    Leave a comment:


  • AfterSchoolMom
    replied
    Everyone keeps mentioning guns, knives, hitting, punching, wrestling... I agree that those things should be discouraged in a daycare setting. I don't think that playing superheroes is something to discourage at all. You CAN have one without the other.

    I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, and normally I am very non confrontational, but...

    I don't understand why society began making all of boys' natural outlets for normal "boy" feelings and behaviors taboo and encouraging nothing but fluffy fuzzy cuddle time. If you ask me, I think THAT is what has caused this shift to kids becoming violent at young ages. Just because a little boy likes to pretend that he's a superhero does not mean that he'll grow up and shoot people. As long as you are discouraging him from hitting or wrestling, if he wants to stage a battle between the pigs and the cows, where's the harm?

    Leave a comment:


  • Daycare Mommy
    replied
    You can do superhero play without fighting, guns, or other weapons. I think it's a great springboard to talk about right and wrong, justice, bravery, etc. in addition to incorporating it in the other teaching we do (reading, math, science, etc.) like I mentioned in my post near the beginnning of this thread.

    This is what we do over here. I put limitations on it. We don't hurt or "kill" anyone real or imaginary. The kids here are all on the same side. They chase, capture, and take to jail any imaginary "bad guys". These villains are sometimes completely imaginary and invisible, they could be a prop from their toys, or a piece of furniture (my couch was once a mighty dragon!) Their methods of capture have been lassos, ice, water (ex. when dealing with fiery enemies like dragons), fire (not to burn, but in a magic circle around to trap them), fast growing vines, trees, traps, other magic or powers, etc.

    Now I'm not telling anyone here their way is wrong. My siblings and I played with toy guns and swords. We "fought" each other, had enormous amounts of fun, and have wonderful memories of it all. We knew the difference between time to play and roughhouse and time to be serious and respectful of people's space. If I did not have a daycare I might not have done anything different than my parents did. This is just the system that I use to keep the group working in harmony and still able to follow their imaginations in play since not all of the kids I've had over the years can draw the line keep it pretend and fun without the rules in place.

    Leave a comment:


  • nannyde
    replied
    ANY time you have fixation you are going to have problems. With this kind of play you have fixation on some form of violence or conflict in their play. I don't allow it. It jacks them up and most of all limits their mind set to hyper frentic high level stimulation.

    I want them to play nicely with each other and have the focus of their play be fairness, co-operation, calmness, consideration, etc. I don't want conflict play and I want them to EASILY go from one type of play to the other and be able to COPE with all different kinds of self entertainment play.

    I would much rather they be building towers and forts with blocks, setting up elaborate train tracks and making engine lines, doing puzzles, playing with doll houses or etch a sketches. I'm not interested in crashing, smashing, dominance, winning, etc. The themes of this type of play aren't conducive IMHO of a multi level age group of kids playing with one another.

    Nan

    Leave a comment:


  • sahm2three
    replied
    I completely and respectfully disagree. I don't think the pretend play has anything to do with kids killing classmates. I think there has to be rules, but I think that is quite a stretch. Now if we were talking about 12 and 13 year old boys doing this, maybe that would raise a red flag, but at least in my home we are talking about 3 to 8 year old boys! They are fighting aliens and bad guys! I have rules like no pointing the toys guns at eachother, no hitting with the lightsabers/swords. I didn't have guns and swords and etc in my home for a LONG time. Then I just came to the conclusion that boys with make guns and swords out of ANYTHING! I remember one day when my first son was about 3 or 4 and he ate his sandwich into the shape of a gun! Sticks are guns and swords. My kids (and I am teaching my dck's) know the difference between right and wrong, and real and pretend. So I am going to let them be kids and have fun! Guidance and love is what I am there for!

    Leave a comment:


  • QualiTcare
    replied
    ok, i'm embarrassed that i'm talking to myself at this point, but i keep thinking of things related to this issue!

    i had a professor once who said she had a problem with a boy in her class that was very aggressive with other children. he would flat out run up to them and body slam them which he thought was wonderful fun - even though the other child would be scared and crying. she said she had a conference with the boy's parents and come to find out- the boy's dad wrestled with him all the time! that was their way of playing/bonding (much like you said). my prof. said she explained to the dad that she understood what they did at home, but it was really affecting his ability to socialize and make friends at school. that seemed to help the problem.

    that hit home with me because my son (2 at the time i heard this story) and my husband wrestled and played WAY too rough in my opinion all the time! i told my husband about it (and thanks to this thread, i'm going to have another conversation) because my son is almost 4 and he's very aggressive. he doesn't do it so much with me or other females because he's learned there is a difference (ok, call me sexist) but he would jump on me and beat the crap out of me, and it hurt! he does it with his sister as well - he'll run up to her and give her a "bear hug" and he's laughing his butt off while she's crying. he is really hurting her and he thinks he's playing and it's fun!

    i can see how some would let it slide since the boys are siblings and the parents are okay with it - but you need to think about the future. they may not always be together (when they start school) and they need to know other methods of approaching and interacting with playmates. it's a tough call. i enjoy watching my husband and son play rough because they have so much fun, and i want my son to be tough, of course. on the other hand, i don't want him to think that is the normal way to play.

    thanks for bringing this up.

    Leave a comment:

Working...
X