65: Karen's Toys

[Lila]

I sympathized with Karen when her parents wouldn't let her have the toys.
I thought, it was pretty pointless of parents (any parents) to have the big "No Gun" rule.
When i was seven and my friends and I were into super soakers and lazer-tag guns and Star Wars was popular play and so was Power Rangers.
My friends and I never got "too rough" or 'too violent"
and we knew the difference between fantasy fun violence and real violence.
we knew the basics that fighting for real never solves problems and our interests had been always backed up with truths to the fiction.
Lots of violent stuff my friends and my brother ever partook in we had been educated after the fact.
We ran around with guns and it didn't have bad effects on us, and we watched violent stuff and never started being rougher after the show. and there were more boys than girls i hung out with too, so its not like, 'gender based'

A smart kid like Karen and her friends too, I could see them being sophisticated and mature enough to keep fantasy from getting too out of hand.



Also, i thought it was kinda dumb of Lisa to get so upset over Karen having the toys at Watson's home.
Other times Karen has to obey different sets of rules at different houses.
and Watson and Elizabeth allow Saturday morning cartoons and Lis and Seth do not.
i don't see Lisa flipping out at Watson saying "SHE CAN'T HAVE TV ON SATURDAYS!!!!"

I don't think Karen was being TOO out of hand, in essence it does work: Mommy's House, Mommy's Rules. Daddy's House, Daddy's Rules.

[sweetvalleygirl99]

I felt bad for Karen too when she couldn't have the toys and thought that the "No Gun" rule was stupid . When I was growing up, me and my cousins would always play with our Nerf guns and we never got too out of control. I also played with water guns and I too played Star Wars and Power Rangers with my friends. We never got too rough or violent because we were always taught not to and we stuck to that. I would've understood the rule a little more if Karen had wanted, say, a bebe gun but it was just a freaking toy laser gun. It would've been better if Lisa had just told Karen to not get out of control with the gun instead of telling her no. I also didn't see the big deal about Watson buying the guns for Karen and keeping them at his house. Basically it was his house, his rules and if Karen wanted toy guns there, then it should've been all right.
I loved the chapter where Karen, Andrew and David Michael are all shooting each other with the guns ;D. Reminded me of when I used to play Nerf guns with my cousins .

[sparklymouse]

I don't have a problem with a "No Gun" rule if it means no realistic looking guns. I don't think kids would get confused by some gigantic neon thing, but kids that go around pointing things saying "Bang! You're dead!" kinda creep me out. Dawn had a no guns rule when she joined the club too. I thought it was good of Watson to support Lisa in this instance because it didn't let Karen play one parent against the other. (Mommy's a meanie-mo, Daddy's gigundoly cool!)

The movie that the toys were based on sounded extremely stupid. Lol.

[tiff85]

I would have did/said the same thing Lisa said about Karen and Andrew having toy guns. I don't condone them and would not allow them in my home either.

[Kylie90210]

I guess guns aren't really a big issue here, cause they're not that common. I don't know anyone who owns one. So toy guns aren't that common either, but not a big deal if they are. I agree about Watson's house, Watson's rules. I would have been annoyed if Lisa told me what to do in my own house. That was something she and Watson should have discussed previously.

[zoar3]

I agree with Tiff and (yikes) Dawn that guns of any kind have no business being marketed as toys. It doesn't matter to me how unrealistic the toy might look it's still applying the principle of "I have this weapon" so do as I say. Now, thought about that way in terms of like a super soaker or squirt gun that's probably not that big a deal. Except IMO, that way of thinking can lead into/foster "I'm bigger than you and will resort to force or violence if you don't listen to me." Beginnings of abuse.

I also agree that the movie sounded very dumb. Kristy's Car Man adventure from her Portrait was much more interesting to me.

Watson and Lisa did not do a very good job in general with communication and co-parenting. Yes, each of their opinions might differ but they should have reached a little more common ground.

[Kylie90210]

^ I agree. And I forgot about Car Man!

[anzuhana]

I could understand where Lisa was coming from since the guns were realistic looking. Now, if the toy guns were super soakers, I would think it would be somewhat ridiculous if Lisa didn't buy them.

[virgoscorpio]

Yeah, this book totally reminded me of Super Soakers, too. Especially when it was published in 1995 and that was when, arguably, SSers were at their prime. I wonder if this book was realted to SSers or just toy guns in general?

I can relate to this book because I am not a fan or guns -- toy or otherwise -- either. Basically, I think they are too much power for one person to have. It's quite scary, frankly. However, now that I am an adult I have different viewpoints on toy guns than I had when I was a kid. So of course Karen is going to want one when all of her friends have one, that just makes sense. I do sympathize with Seth and Lisa's stance, however.

[Honeybee]

I thought, the toy gun rule was stupid. I felt sorry for Karen and Andrew. I had water gun, when I was growing up. We knew a kid, who was younger than us. had a bebe gun. My older sister will shoot in mid air toward us, but told us stayed back. (But, that was long time ago.)

The movie sound stupid.

Lisa & Seth, don't like commercials either. Sheesh, their very tight parents.

[scrounge]

The thing I thought was interesting about this book was that Watson was okay with the kids having the toys at his house until he found out that Lisa had told them no. In the earliest Little Sister books, there are different sets of rules at each house, and the kids are OK with that. I think at one house they weren't allowed to watch cartoons and at the other they couldn't eat sweets, or something like that. But apparently by this point in the series, Watson and Lisa were enforcing each other's rules about what toys the kids could have.

[zoar3]

I still agree with what I had said 4 years ago about this book. I also just had the thought of how odd (convenient) it was that Watson and Lisa had not talked about their feelings on violent toys before. I can understand how a "cool" new movie might set off a rage of "fad" weapon related toys and bring the conversation back into discussion but it shouldn't have started it. Andrew is 4. Almost all 4 year old boys I have taught have had some interest in playing either star wars or other fantasy weapon game. I was glad Lisa caught them right away because then Andrew didn't have to keep the secret, which Karen should not have asked him, too. It could have been more interesting had Andrew after being going back to the Little House with his ray sprayer told Karen he didn't want it anymore (I know, unlikely) and have had the rest go from there or even Andrew (more unlikely) turning down the toy to begin with and Karen just getting one. IDK, maybe I still just want to see less of Karen and a little more of Andrew and also the other LS kids. I did think the panel contest in this sounded like fun, the new neighbor Bartons, not so much. I'd rather have the Barretts. (similar name).

[supprazz]

I've never read this book or heard of the plot till now, but it does sound interesting enough if I ever come across it. I think water pistols are silly too now though I do like them and did as a kid as well, it should be the responsibility of the parents to explain fantasy and reality to them if they're worried about pop culture from movies and video games influencing them or distorting their views.

[andrew]

I think most kids should be able to understand the difference between imaginary action-violence and real violence and playing with toy weapons shouldn't be a problem. It felt a little forced that Hannie and Nancy suddenly decided to give away their toy guns too.
I also think most kids, at least at 7 or 8, should be able to handle a PG movie although I agree that films should be properly rated; a lot of movies, especially Disney films in the '90s, got G when they should have been rated PG.
Kind of funny how The Space Game was Transformers-y.

[livvy]

The No toys as guns rule is pointless. As a kid I played with nerf guns and guns that sprayed water. Was heaps of fun especially during summer. We have the strictest gun controls in Australia.

Unlike say America where you just walk into a gun shop and buy one.