I'm a little worried about this because my 6 year old loves guns and knives...

Bluebird, I also played with guns for the first 8 years of my life. Growing up with three brothers (and all of the other neighbourhood kids were boys as well) I was a real tomboy...playing cowboys, climbing apple trees, playing in the sandbox with tonka trucks, and constantly raiding my brothers' rooms for the "good stuff".

Despite all those years of delightfully playing with guns, I grew up to be an avid pacifist who abhors violence. So I wouldn't worry too much...

I loved to play with cars. I would make roads for them in the dirt. My "girly" dolls were a mess. I'd cut their hair off and put make up on them and basically ruin them. Hmmm...what does that say about me?

Do any of you remember the Pitiful Pearl doll? I had one and loved it but have never seen it since then. I'd love to get one for my granddaughter but nobody seems to remember it.

I guess I was a tomboy but had no brothers. I think I had a very complex personality and still do.

Dianne, what wonderful memories your line "I would make roads for them in the dirt" evokes! We were so very lucky when Dad built us a summer cottage by the lake when I was about 10 years old. The beach was rocky, but there was a a HUGE sandpit right by the edge of that rocky beach. Oh the hours and days and months my two younger brothers and I used to spend in that dirt pile every summer. We made whole cities with roads, houses, bridges and castles...and of course all those cars and trucks! It was glorious, and Mom always had a hard time getting us to come in for meals. To this day, all three of us heave a huge sigh of profound pleasure whenever we start to reminisce about that dirt pile.

I think this shows that children are happy with the simple things in life. It can cause the imagination to work.

Looking back, it was even at a very early age that I had a fascination with cars. It was a family thing too as my uncle had a huge warehouse full of cars, trucks and motorcycles. I come by it naturally I guess.

I only have one sister and she never played in the dirt like I did. She would read books by the hour and it drove me crazy. She refused to come outside and play with me. This is horrible but I was so frustrated with her that one day, I took a safety pin and jabbed her in the butt as she was sprawled out on her bed, on her tummy, reading, yet another book! She has never forgotten it either and did I ever get into trouble!

I do remember playing with a cap gun when I was a kid. I'd actually forgotten about that. They were probably dangerous, but what did I know back then?

I haven't thought of cap guns in years. I played with them too. I think I was a boy, trapped in a girl's body.