Change the Game

The Pope is in support of the "Change the Game" initiative, which seeks to encourage parents & children to put aside toys that portray or mimic violent weapons.

I was so happy to see this post over at Evangelical-Catholic. I am so tired of feeling alone in saying to my 7 year old son's friends, "No guns in my house!" OR "I don't care if it is a pretend gun, do NOT point it at me!"
My son goes to a Catholic school that is fairly conservative but play guns are in most of his friends' homes.
Many parents say to me -- "Boys will make guns out of a stick or their fingers. It is in their nature."

Those kinds of "guns" do not bother me as much. I have noticed that "guns" in those make-believe games morph into any number of other make believe things with regular frequency.

I am ashamed of our culture's marketing of weapons as toys. This strkes me as a horrible thing for adults to do or allow.



Here's Zenit's write-up of the story:

Date: 2007-01-22
Pope Urges Youth to "Change the Game"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 22, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI gave his public support to the Change the Game project, an initiative that asks children to put toy weapons aside.

"I am pleased with this initiative and I would like to extend the appeal: Let's protect children from the spread of violence!" the Pope said on Sunday when greeting crowds gathered to pray the Angelus.

The project, which began in Leece, Italy, sponsors campaigns to "disarm" children of their violent play things. Since it began, Change the Game has collected some 4,500 toy weapons.

With the help of the civil authorities of Leece, Vito Patti, known as the Magician Fracasso, organized a month-long "disarmament" campaign that ended Jan. 6.

When Benedict XVI received Magician Fracasso in a private audience, the magician gave the Holy Father 12 toy weapons collected during the campaign.

The Change the Game project is now being promoted in other European cities.

You can find some links to websites that sell classical toys at Coffee and Diapers.