Why is pretending to kill someone ok anyway?
Battles are dramatic. I'm okay with my son engaging in dramatic play-- cops and robbers, knight battles, Jedi battles, WW II re-enactments, what have you. That kind of play is about archetypes, heroism, etc. and not gore. It's not really pretending to kill someone; it's pretending to battle, generally as part of a storyline. Like it or not, human experience involves strife.
Yes it's pretend but that kind of imagination really does need to remain in check.
Why? I think Barney and Blue's Clues need to remain in check.
I am fine with my child imagining anything he likes, as long as it doesn't show evidence of an underlying psychological problem-- and if that ever happens, I will address the problem but not think that his imagination needs to remain in check.
I'm generally fine with my son being exposed to anything that doesn't harm him. Playing cops and robbers, etc. certainly doesn't harm him (although I guess another child might be sensitive in a way so as to not like such play; I wouldn't know).
My DD5 has a 6 yr. old friend who is a boy, and all he wants to do is kill something.
If he's killing things or even trying, that is quite bad behavior. I would never suspect that it comes from simple dramatic play with other children like we're discussing here, and I would report it as appropriate.
My son is well-adjusted and quite a kind little boy. He does like to drive his pretend light saber through the heart of the occasional pretend Sith, but the rest of the time he shows no psychopathic tendencies whatsoever.
