Well, I never thought I'd see this day come. That's right, you'rs truly.....bleeding heart - lefty - peace loving - liberal purchased an actual gun for her 16 year old son. Maybe I'm turning to the dark side after all?
Ha ha, don't get too excited....it's just an air rifle that shoots little plastic beads. A comprimise between a bb gun and a paintball gun. It's still not for wussies, it can totally put a hole in things and smarts like a mother if it hits you. You have to be over 18 to buy one and it is something that comes with a certain amount of responsibility attached to it, so it's an excercise in trust between a mother and her boy. I trust Max not to shoot an animal or little kids with it (those were the #1 rules, if an animal gets shot with that thing it's GONE!) and in general, I get the sense from him that he's not going to blow it. There are several rules along with this thing that include no damage to property, people or animals, that kind of basic stuff. Besides, his friends (who all have one and like to shoot each other in the ass with it wth?) are oohing and ahhing over it and Max is strutting around like a peacock over the whole thing, so apparently mom did good.
It's one of those things he knows he's lucky to have in the first place I guess. Especially coming from this slightly over-protective hippy momma, who wouldn't even buy him toy guns when he was a young boy and encouraged him more to play with lego's and cars and be outside with me in the garden. Yet, he'd still "shoot" things with bannana's or whatever else might be fashioned into a weapon so I'm certain this is some kind of genetic predisposition for males, you know...bang bang kill kill destroy destroy. I see it in the role playing video games he plays and rough housing that goes on with his friends, which only re-inacts some level of a sort of 'safe' violence...but it must serve some kind of purpose, right? *sigh* I don't totally get it, but I recognize it as some inherant need that needs to be acted out for him to grow up and be a man.
Besides, I shot it at the fence and knocked a pop can over and admit to feeling a slight rush when the can went down. Go Mom. It's the first kind of 'gun' I've ever fired and it makes noise and it's kind of heavy, but still I can sort of see the appeal for a 16 year old boy. Sort of:)
If you had asked me if this would've ever happened...say 10 years ago when he was a 6 year old in Kindergarten I would've said HELL TO THE NO! Parenting is unlike any other experience I've ever known. You gotta roll with it baby.
:)
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