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Bad Guys

Typically my girls don't play pretend with bad guys, but for a long time Amanda was a superhero who fought them every day, and Luke is "Luke Skywalker," whose claim to fame is killing bad guys. I am decidedly ambivalent, but I do admit that when I try to intervene, the games get less exciting. The bad guys usually apologize and are forgiven, a common scenario for the pint size badness in our house (tearing someone's paper, playing with someone's toys, hitting someone). It is not as satisfactory for the big size crimes of the pretend bad guys.

They've watched and read plenty of stories with bad guys who die horrible deaths---think of Hansel and Gretel. So is it OK to push someone into an oven? Is it OK to pretend to push someone into an oven? What if you are acting out Hansel and Gretel? It makes me cringe to see my kids pretending to kill anyone, even a bad guy. But I haven't found a good solution.

Of course, there is the logical solution of the 3 year old. You are not allowed to hurt people. You are allowed (as seen on TV or in books) to hurt bad guys. Therefore, bad guys are not people. If only it were that simple.

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