Selma Blair: Why I bought my son a toy gun

by

Carolyn Robertson

posted in Celebrities

Selma Blair's 4-year-old son Arthur "Saint" may very well find a toy gun under the Christmas tree this year.

The actress and mom admits that she struggled with the idea of her preschooler playing with pretend weapons seeing as she is "terrified of guns," but eventually realized that it "was something [Saint] was drawn to."

“I bought him a cap gun and I talked about it with his dad, and it’s taken very seriously," Selma tells PEOPLE. "He would take a flower and break it and turn it into a gun — bang bang. I mean, that’s his thing. So whether I bought him a gun or not, he finds a way to do it.... I’m new at navigating this. He only plays with this cap gun with Mom or Dad around, and he seems to respect it so far and understands that these are plastic toys and we don’t shoot people.”

Selma and Saint's dad Jason Bleick have imposed some rules as to when their little boy can pull out his cap gun, and when it needs to stay tucked in the toy box. On Halloween Saint dressed up as a police officer, for instance, but the gun didn't go trick-or-treating with them.

Though she clearly has mixed feelings, Selma, 43, says that talking openly about his fascination with guns gives her a good teaching opportunity.

"I know how to shoot one very well," she reveals. "My sister was a police officer and I have tremendous respect and caution around guns."

Selma isn't the only parent who's had to tackle this particular issue. The question of kids and toy guns recently came up in the BabyCenter Community, with 61% of parents saying that they do allow their children to play with pretend guns. Most, though, noted that they made sure the guns looked like toys, not like replicas of the real thing.

"I didn't allow toy guns at first but [my son] would make a gun out of literally anything so I gave up that fight," says one mom, echoing Selma's thoughts.

Another said she steers clear of them, saying, "No toy guns, swords, axes, etc. I also do my best to avoid TV with weapons. It's hard, and some shows have them, but I try."

I grew up with two brothers and spent countless childhood hours playing "war" with the neighborhood kids in the woods down the street from our house. Back then we had a small armory of toy guns that looked very much like real ones and I still remember balancing the rifle against my shoulder and hearing it pop as I pulled the trigger.

I can't say those games of pretend did any of us any harm, but even so I've squashed the occasional urge to buy my daughers a Nerf gun just because I really don't like the thought of them aiming a weapon - even one that's obviously for pretend purposes - at each other or at anyone else.

Do you let your kids play with toy guns? What do you think of Selma Blair's approach?

Celebrity moms get real about raising boys...

Photo: PR Photos