My partner and I took our 2.5-year-old to the park the other day. In amongst the little people playing, were a group of children, ranging from about 3 to about 7, playing with plastic .45 guns. A little one of about four years old runs up to his friend, holds the gun at point-blank range to his head and screams "I'm going to kill you!". The other child ran off crying. What the...?

I was so ashamed of our adult world at that moment. The macabre language. The toys closely resembled weapons. The innocent minds were already programmed to think that it was okay to say and pretend to be highly violent. If an adult played the same game of pretend in a public park, we'd call the police. What is going on here?

Why is it okay that we sell toy guns for children to play with? Why is it okay for children to speak of killing as part of their play?

Two days later while searching for prop for English activities that I do doing with French pre-schoolers, I came across a whole section in a toy store that sold all sorts of toy weapons.

There are a lot of things that need to change, but I am going to start with a simple, attainable one:

BAN TOY GUNS.

This is an open call to Groupe King Jouet to stop selling toy weapons. Please. Our children need our guidance to follow the road that doesn't involve killing.

#bantoyguns #impactthatmatters #childrensmentalhealth #changeforgood