Where have I gone wrong?

Thankfully I have been having a conversation on my discussion board recently with other moms of boys that makes me believe that I haven't messed up THAT bad.

One thing with raising kids that AB had to compromise on, that I stood strong was that our kids would never have toy guns. The line has to be drawn somewhere and so I chose to draw the line in between toy guns and water guns. Water guns are fine, toy guns are not.

As Leif has gotten more into Star Wars I had another decision to face. That Princess Leia action figure? The one with the gun? Is that ok? I gave on those too. They are an inch long and usually lost within a week. I could deal.

Gun talk at school is strictly forbidden and so I felt like I had backup there. AB all along has said, "boys will play guns no matter what, you aren't going to change that". My retort has always been, "then they can do it with their imaginations and invent their own". Which Leif has done.

I don't mind swords or lightsabers so much - except when they are used on his unarmed sister. The lightsabers have been in time out for awhile now. Maybe even months. Leif will have to do something pretty extraordinary to release them from their confines in the top of my closet. Until then the foam swords (that frequently also land in time out) he picked out with his gift card from grandpa are just fine.

Today on the way home from work I handed Leif a costume catalog turned open to the Star Wars page. I have dreams of little Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi walking down the street together. We have Yoda and it will fit Skadi and is just too perfect for her. Leif would make a perfect Obi Wan. Or Anakin. Ok, I will even pay for the Darth Vadar costume to make this work.

"Oooooh!" Leif swooned. "Look at that costume with the gun, that is SO cool!"

I cringed.

"Guns are not cool," I said.

Leif swooned some more. And some more. Then he started turning the pages and pointing out every costume with a gun.

Okay okay... if I want my Star Wars dream Halloween it may end up being Bobba Fet and Yoda. (Rolling my eyes.) Though in the next few weeks while there is still time, I am going to push as hard as possible, reminding him that if he is Anakin, Obi Wan or Darth he gets his lightsabers out of time out.