The Nerf Effect

    Nerf has had an interesting history, one i've only seen part of. It started off with a few small foam launchers and has evolved into what it is today; a huge and thriving industry with poor competitors. I've always been a fan of the franchise, and liked their products but recently they have worried me. Aside from my general hate for false advertising and the likes (and Nerf has a lot of it), the growing realism that these blasters have taken on is frightening. At this time and day, kids are constantly surrounded by a war environment contributed to by video games, movies, the war in the Middle East, and toy guns.
    Playing is a simply a way of practicing survival skills, and this is true in all reaches of Earth. Lions and wolves play-fight their siblings to practice techniques. In the middle ages, a kid would become a man at a very young age and be expected to help provide for the family. Today we play football, baseball, soccer, and other sports to maintain our physical ability. In the end it is all for survival.
    The issue with kids being exposed to Nerf Guns as such a young age of about 5+ years old, despite the "recommendation" Hasbro puts on their toys for safety, is that these kids are pre-exposed to violence without regulation. All this really comes down to is the parent's failure to teach their kids about how the world works. Nerf is a game, a fun game. As it becomes more realistic and the boundaries between it and the real world narrow, war seems to be more and more of a game.

    My worry is that kids will develop a misguided idea of what fighting is; that it is fun, not brutal. I hope that that never happens.