Crossing Over to the Dark Side

I don't even know how to begin, but if I tell you about Hayden's Halloween costumes from last year and this year, you'll probably quickly see where I am going with this.  Last Halloween, I felt like my boys were the sweetest, cutest, most innocent little brothers and pals trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.  Caleb had his heart set on being a UPS delivery man, and Hayden eagerly joined in by choosing to be a Fed-Ex delivery man.  Their costumes were cheap, homemade, and did I mention how cute they looked together?  I have to say, I was quite proud.

This year, Caleb isn't too sure of his Halloween costume plans, but Hayden, now 3.5, talks constantly about Darth Vader. He noticed other kids with Star Wars backpacks and the Star Wars toys at Target and started asking about the bad guy with the black helmet. We told him who Darth Vader was and showed him a few short clips from one of the movies.  Hayden is hooked!

Previously I shared about Hayden's fascination with power and good guys vs. bad guys, like with Buzz Lightyear and Zurg.  These days Hayden hardly talks about Zurg; instead it's all about Darth ("Dark") Vader, the "white guys", the "red guys", and the Emperor.  And along with this goes a growing interest in light sabers and guns ("shooters"). 

Yes, guns.  I have heard stories about how little boys-- even in the most faithful of Mennonite families =)-- can make a gun out of anything.  And now I have witnessed it with  my own eyes.  Hayden came home from his second day of preschool with some artwork that had small colored construction paper circle cut-outs glued to a white background.  Hayden had one yellow circle that was labeled as a sun, and three blue circles that were labeled as shooters.  My kid imagined a gun from a circle piece of paper!

I should add that I know everybody has different opinions about toy guns, and real guns, for that matter. And I fall toward the extreme side of being against them. =) So it has been a little hard for me to accept that my boys are pretty normal. I was really hoping they weren't!

Anyway, I feel like some innoncence has been lost over the past year, but I am trying to keep things in perspective.  This is a normal phase, preschool boys are just fascinated with power, control, and good vs. evil.  My kids are not doomed for a life that involves a semi-automatic weapon collection displayed over a mantle.  They won't be set on killing or imprisoning everyone who disagrees with them. 

There have been some positive things coming out of this new phase. Lots of good conversations, chances to explore feelings and beliefs.  The boys have even written and illustrated their own Darth Vader books. (I will probably post Caleb's sometime.)  I try to remind them-- without nagging-- that in real life, all people do good things and all people do bad things.

I will probably buy Hayden a Darth Vader costume for Halloween this year, mostly since I found one at Walmart.com for only $12. Part of me doesn't want to buy it and encourage it, but another part of me can swallow my pride and handle it.  A third part of me keeps whispering, "It's only $12!!"  I'll be sure to post pictures ;)