Worried parents breathe easy as kids’ toy guns go up in flames
Keinou (Bishnupur), May 22 : If Ernest Hemingway’s classic A Farewell to Arms were to be written afresh, this tale from Manipur could very well be the plot of another heartwarming story.
Over a hundred children from Keinou and its neighbouring villages in Manipur’s Bishnupur district today made a bonfire of their toy guns — almost real-looking AK-47s, 9mm pistols, M-16 rifles and machine guns — igniting a novel campaign to stop children from playing with violent toys.
M. Rohit Singh saw his AK-47 go up in flames, but he seemed more relieved than sad. The toy had injured his best friend during the Yaoshang festival in March this year while they were playing a “war game”.
But at the Keinou playground — where the bonfire was lit — most of the happy faces were that of the parents, who decided on the campaign after having to nurse their children with injuries sustained while playing with the toys. The injuries often led to bitter quarrels among the parents.
“Most of the children in our locality and the state these days prefer these toy guns to anything else. Playing with these toys is dangerous as many children sustain injuries,” said a parent, Mangi Leima.
Marjit Khuman, another parent, agreed with Leima. “The bullets could damage the eyes of the children, if hit,” he said.
Some of the guardians said their wards preferred to “shoot” mostly in the “head”. They even spoke of “ambushing” their friends while playing with the toys.
Though no case studies have been done on the effect of the toys on children, the parents were worried about the psychological fallout of these toys on their children. Many of them apparently exhibit an undesirable fascination for weapons.
“We are worried that playing with the toy guns would have a negative impact on the minds of the children when they grow up. Manipur is a place where violence is a daily phenomenon. So we want to keep our children away from the gun culture,” another parent, Rani Devi, said.
The parents, who vowed to keep their children away from toy guns in future, took out a rally to encourage others to follow their example. The children also took part in the rally, with many carrying placards reading “We don’t want guns, we want football”.
Telegraph India
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