Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Play/toy weapons

[Rick Gravrok (rick.gravrok]

Children and play is a topic dear to my heart, I grew up in a neighborhood
with over 40 kids in the neighborhood, we played outside most of the time.
I was a preschool teacher for 7 great years. And for the first summer here
at Monterey Cohousing in Minnesota when our families with children moved
into the new townhomes, I provided a “Kids Kamp” for the 4 to 11 year olds.


After the Texas University massacre where 14 people were shot dead, the
governor put Dr. Stuart Brown in charge of research on this killer and
others like him. He discovered a commonality: they lacked rough and tumble
play.


Kids need to be able to take risks as they play, this is how they learn to
socialize, develop empathy, deal with real-life conflict and get their
needs for physical contact met. Check out what Dr. Stuart Brown has to say
at his National Institute for Play: http://www.nifplay.org


And listen to NPR’s interview with him:
http://www.onbeing.org/program/play-spirit-and-character/143


While I have big concerns about virtual, fantasy video games where the
human players are the killers and never the recipient of any real-life
consequences (other than losing points or the game), I believe that playing
war, including playing with toy guns, where kids play with other real kids,
where sometimes you’re the good guy, and sometimes the bad guy, and where
sometimes you get hurt, childhood is the time of life to experience and
learn from those real-life interactions. And without adults always
helicoptering over them.


And for those of you interested in healthy mentoring of boys, check out the
award winning documentary called “JOURNEYMAN”  (I’m in it for a few seconds) It
includes a section on media addiction:  http://www.mirrormanfilms.org
  If you watch it, you may want a box of Kleenex.


The trailer is at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dINl_U_vqg>


And when a kid is in front of a screen, he/she is not outside. I recommend
the book: *"LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS - Saving our Children from
Nature-Deficit Disorder" by Richard Louv*


Have Fun, Play Hard, Play Fair, the Hurts are Worth It,


Rick Gravrok

Monterey Cohousing Community
St. Louis Park, MN

-----------------
On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 10:27 AM, David Heimann <heimann [at] theworld.com>
wrote:

>
>
> Hello,
>
>         At Jamaica Plain Cohousing we have a rumpus room that contains
> video and exercise equipment.  The policies for its use pertain to safety,
> protecting the equipment, and avoiding disturbances to areas outside the
> room.  There are no policies as to what gets watched, so for an adult it's
> their choice and for a child it's a parent-child discussion.
>
> Regards,
> David Heimann
> Jamaica Plain Cohousing
>
>
> P.S. -- During our development, someone referred to the four P's as
> potentially contentious issues: "Pistols", "Pets", "Progeny", and
> "Paying".  Guns and swords are on that list!
>
>
>
> Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2016 15:30:01 -0400
> From: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Play/toy weapons
> Message-ID: <04FC1E0A-0ABD-406E-B84F-6F9D8CE1A94D [at] sharonvillines.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
>
> On Jul 20, 2016, at 1:42 PM, Tiffany Lee Brown <magdalen23 [at] gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> My overall impression was, "if this community is anti-gun, shouldn't that
>> be written into their community guidelines? Why find this out after you buy
>> a townhouse and move across the country??
>>
>
> When communities are starting there are huge numbers of things to do and
> to decide. Plus you have 30+ households  moving all at the same time.
> Everyone has a household in shock. They can?t find anything and their pets
> and children are going nuts. And they are learning how to manage a
> multi-million dollar residential real estate project. Maintenance,
> inspections, etc.
>
> Issues are dealt with that involve present residents. It would be
> impossible to deal with all the issues in the world. Plus no one knows what
> all those issues are until someone with them moves in.
>
> It?s also hard to predict what will be an issue. One person?s issue is
> another person?s common practice. Following common sense rules doesn?t work
> in a diverse community.
>
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
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>