Okay, I'm not really upset about this, but I was wondering what you

[Ilsa]

good folks thought of this situation:

I took my son to a swimming birthday party yesterday, and at one point, the mother of the birthday child passed out water pistols. My five year old barely knew how to handle it because we have stayed away from toy guns. My other son is autistic, and we want to teach them that they are not supposed to handle anything that looks like that, even if it is vibrant lemon-yellow. Anyway, I decided not to make a fuss and confiscate it because, naturally, that gets the curiosity up.

My son started messing with it, and when he figured it out, he shot water at one of the other kids who declined to take a pistol. The other child told him he didn't want to be shot at. My child complied with his request, starting shooting at the concrete, and that makes having a pistol pretty dull, so he eventually gave it up to me.

I just thought it was a little rude that a mom would assume everyone would want their kid to have one, and hand them out without asking first. But I let it all slide, though.

[Lars39]

1. It probably never ocurred to her that someone might object.

Not so much rude as unthinking. Sounds like you handled it just fine.

[Ms. Toad]

2. Note to self:

When attending swimming parties (or other water centered events) remember to pack non-gun type squirt toys to share.

I'm sure it never crossed her mind - it's actually fairly rare that parents object to their children having toy guns (I thought mine were the only ones when I was growing up). If you're feeling up to it, I try to take advantages of situations like this to do a little educating in a friendly, "Gee, it never occurred to me that someone might give my children water pistols..." kinda way.

[rbnyc]

3. I do think it's rude.

I think that parents disallowing guns is common enough that it should have been on their radar screen. I wouldn't have made it a federal case either, but I probably would have sent a note after the fact.