Weapon play in the Thiel house

I'm always surprised the way certain tendencies and turns of phrase seem to come innately to kids. My boys uttered phrases like "no fair!" and "he's copying me!" without ever hearing them elsewhere. Add to that list boys' proclivity toward weapons. I've heard plenty of parents say that they try to keep play gender-neutral only to have their daughters gravitate toward dolls. Or think of parents who eschew any kind of gun or weapon play, but their sons find a way and build guns out of Duplos.

Of course this isn't to say that all girls like dolls and all boys guns, but Gus certainly has fallen into the stereotype. In our house, the weapon of choice isn't guns but the mystical four golden weapons of Spinjitzu. If you have a boy of a certain age, chances are you know what I'm talking about: Lego Ninjago. At first, Paul was interested in the toys. He got a couple sets for Christmas, but quickly Gus glommed onto Ninjago in a big way.

The Lego play is fine, though the sets are far beyond Gus's ability and only the "guys" stay intact for any length of time. (Just ask Mark how frustrating it is to spend 45 minutes assembling Jay's plane only to have it be destroyed in no time flat.) It's more the Ninjago cartoon that's the trouble. The ninja fighting is mesmerizing to my youngest.

I know the simple answer is don't let Gus watch the cartoon. And maybe I'm weak-willed, but he loves it, and his brothers watch it. This is a complicated situation for youngest kids. I think they tend to have interests beyond their years because of older siblings. When my niece was 5, she was majorly into Hannah Montana because her sisters liked the show, a phenomenon that obviously wouldn't have happened if she were a first child. I guess a teen pop princess is more innocuous than ninja fighting, though, so it's a doubly difficult situation for us.

The big problem comes into play when Gus turns everything into a weapon of Spinjitzu: a baseball bat becomes the sword of fire, a toy golf club found in our garage morphs into the scythe of quakes, a pair of sticks transforms into the nunchucks of lightning. Gus doesn't mean to hurt anyone, but the risk is obvious. Big G accidentally hit me in the hip with the sword of fire last week, and it still smarts.

What's a mom to do? I think this challenge would flummox even the wise Sensei Wu. Trying to stop Gus feels futile. His imagination for weapon creation seems boundless. I do what I can. I try to keep the weapons of Spinjitzu outside only. Other than that, I think my only choice is to ride it out and try to direct my little Ninjago master toward other activities. Or maybe I could get him hooked on My Little Pony?