School is over...let the arms race begin!

Public schools in New York got out for the summer last week and as if in answer to the prayers of school-age children everywhere, it stopped raining for almost forty-eight hours: just long enough for the summer-time arms race to begin.

When the boys were young, there was no question about what to bring to the various sprinkler parks where we spent most of our summer days: I gave them both spray bottles and they happily filled them up and chased each other around. The spray nozzle had different settings, the bottles were easy to fill, and big enough not to need refilling too often (a big plus, given that refills were usually my job).

Then it happened: Liam noticed one of those massive water bazookas and suddenly his lowly spray bottle wasn't enough. Noooo, absolutely not. He wanted A BIG GUN.  And of course, if he wanted one, so did his younger brother (who actually, if left to his own devices, would have been perfectly happy with the spray bottle for a few more years). You know what I’m talking about: those massive plastic guns that shoot water with enough force to knock over a small child (or soak a parent from such long way away that the parent doesn’t know who to yell at); guns that have an all-too-realistic firing mechanism, sort of like a pump-action rifle.  

Am I being an old fart? Should I cave into the seasonal demand for armaments? I’ve tried to make some kind of devil’s bargain – buying small water pistols like we had when I was a kid in hopes of silencing the argument, but to no avail. The small pistols break easily (I suspect my little darlings are facilitating this breakage process in hopes that the small pistol will be replaced by a water cannon) – and, most importantly, the little water poppers just aren't cool.

I’ve tried pointing out that the Big Guns take all the fun out of a water fight because you can stand so far away from one another no one gets wet; I’ve reminded them that when one of those jets catches you in the eye it hurts; and on and on. None of that matters. They want GUNS. Parent friends shake out on both sides of the debate: I’ve been told to relax, it’s just water, no biggie; and I’ve been told (pun intentional) to stick to my guns and continue to offer spray bottles.

Luckily, the argument has been shelved at least for the time being because it’s started raining again, apparently with no intention of stopping. If and when it ever stops being monsoon season in New York, I guess I’ll have to make my stand, one way or another. Maybe if I buy the boys each a really, really BIG spray bottle...

This is an original post for the NYC Mom's Blog. Deborah Quinn can be found muttering on playgrounds about those damn guns, and on www.mannahattamamma.com