Rumor: No guns for the Jolie-Pitt kids

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, have banned their children playing with toy guns and seeing any movie where they are playing violent characters. The couple, who have made their fortune from a variety of films involving violence, have said this is not something they want their children to see.

Angelina previously stared in the Tomb Raider movies and is now filming Wanted in Prague, also a violent film. Source has said that Angelina feels that she is protecting them and toy guns are not allowed in their house.

Angelina is protecting them from seeing her making violence look good. Staff have been told the kids can’t even see props. And toy guns are a complete no-no.

The couple raise four children; Maddox Chivan, 5 1/2, Pax Thien, 3 1/2, Zahara Marley, 2, and Shiloh Nouvel, 11 months.

Source: The Sun

At what age were your children allowed to start watching films with guns or vioence?

Comments

I thought I remember Angelina saying Maddox loved to play with toy swords, so I wonder if she’s just making a distinction with guns, or if she did a complete reversal.

I probably won’t have a set age for when it’s okay and when it’s not (though I’m sure they won’t be watching Pulp Fiction when they’re 5). It will come down to whether or not they know not to use violence to solve their problems, and whether or not they can tell fantasy from reality. If those two conditions are met, I’ll probably be more lenient. Watching violence may even benefit some kids, as it gives them a fantasy self to negotiate through their emotions. Here’s a great article on that:
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2000/06/violent_media.html?welcome=true

- Naughty Cal on May 10th, 2007

I have never understood why parents buy their kids toy guns. It disturbes me a great deal when a child places a plastic AK-47 against my back and yells “hands up”. It happens, I work with kids… It’s not funny, it’s certainly not cute and since when is war a game? Could someone please explain to me why you buy your kids those kinds of toys? What is your agenda?

- Hea on May 10th, 2007

That’s quite responsible of Angie and Brad.

The movies Angelina and Brad made, which include guns and violence aren’t supposed to be seen by small children – Tomb Raider has a PG-13 rating (12 in the UK).

I guess Angie and Brad won’t object to their kids seeing these movies when they are teenagers, but now they are only, what, five and three? And two babies.

- pink.lioness on May 10th, 2007

eh, I kind of doubt this as I’ve seen pictures of Brad and Maddox playing with toy guns.

- stephanie on May 10th, 2007

No guns allowed for my kids either. I think it minimizes the danger factor of them.

- Colleen on May 10th, 2007

My son is five shortly. I do not allow weapons, violent role-play, or violent entertainment. I want him to respect life, and recognize violence as the devastating thing that it is, not something frivolous. I don’t find killing fun, rather, it breaks my heart. Adults can recognize make believe, but young children find the line between fantasy and reality blurry. When he demonstrates a level of development where he can grasp higher level concepts, I will start loosening up. I don’t get upset when I hear him act out violent make believe. But I will talk to him about it. I’ll say, “Who did you just kill?” Then I’ll talk about how maybe that man was someones daddy, and now a little boy or girl is very sad that they’ll never see there daddy again. I’ll ask him how that makes him feel. After the little chat, I’ll remind him that because war (or whatever the game was) hurts people so badly and makes people so sad, we don’t pretend those things in our family. We play happy, helping games at home instead. I’ll ask him what kind of helpers he likes to pretend to be. He’ll say a firefighter or conservation officer, and I’ll redirect to that scenario.

- Shmoo on May 10th, 2007

I never let my son have any toy guns or play with them. I did not let him watch any violent movies. We really don’t watch a lot of television. I sent him to a christian daycare part time as I had to work part time but that wasnt until he was 2. This daycare had no toy guns and no violent videos were ever allowed. One day I gave him a piece of American single sliced cheese. He ate it into the shape of a gun – he was about 4 and said look mom, now I have a gun. Just kind of threw me. Ok thanks for indulging my story.

- anna on May 10th, 2007

Yeah I think no matter how much you try to shelter your kids from guns & violence in entertainment, they’ll soon figure out what a gun looks like and what it’s for.

I think that’s great if Brad & Angie, and most of the mothers here and their daycare centers don’t have toy guns for their kids to play with, although most children are influenced by their peers, so if a peer child’s parents are more leniant* about what their kids are exposed to even a toy block, legos, a sock, or something else can become a “gun” in the hands & imagination of certain kids.

(*I doubt most parents would intentionally sit their kids down to watch a violent movie, however most probably won’t turn off the TV or pause the DVD if their kids wander into the room for a few moments while they’re watching a Rated R movie.)

I would imagine though that Maddox and Pax could be taking Kiddie Karate lessons to help them use up some of their spare energy in a positive manner. (They could possibly even have Zahara & Shiloh in Tiny Tots Gymnastics, but they’re probably too much of celebrities for that. lol!)

- Autumn on May 10th, 2007

Anna, you are too funny. My son did the American cheese gun thing too! But really other than that he is a sword and karate guy when protecting me from bears and bad guys. He plays as a hero, most of the time there is no violence involved. A good “Back off bad guy!” does the trick.

- Melissa on May 10th, 2007

Oh Autumn, unfortunately I think you’re sadly mistaken about parents intentionally sitting their kids down to watch violent films, though you’re propably right that most won’t. I have heard stories about parents taking their young children (by young I mean around 7 or 8 and younger) to movies that would curl an older person’s hair, never mind a child’s. I know people who have worked at movie theaters and seen adults take children to see Hostel, Pan’s Labyrinth, and The Hills Have Eyes, to name a few-all of which, I can assure you, are NOT appropriate for anyone other than adults (I don’t even think many adults should watch them, lol!) The things that some parents do are nothing short of frightening.

- Lauren on May 10th, 2007

My mom never allowed me to play with toy guns either. She’s an early childhood teacher and enforced that in her classroom as well. Of course children will learn what guns are soon enough, but I wouldn’t want them to think of them as toys.

- sweetdiva on May 10th, 2007

Lauren, do you live where I live? I went and saw “SAW II” and there were kids there. Literally 6 months – 8 years old. I was HORRIFIED that the parents took their kids. And the kids were stuck to the screen. It was so disturbing. I never went to that theatre again and so many people complained that they now restrict kids under the age limit of the movie to get in. REGARDLESS that they are with a parent. Since it should be the responsiblity of the PARENT to not take the kids to that kind of movie.
I am glad that Brad and Angelina (WHO I adore and admire) are sticking by what they bevieve in. More parents should.
And if there are pictures with Brad playing with Maddox and playing guns, maybe in the past it was ok, but then a lot of tragedy has been happening in our country with guns and they could have changed their outlook on how to raise their kids. I do know with everything going on, a lot of us are raising our kids differently than we were before. And it is for the better of the kids that their parents decide early on what is appropriate in their family. Then there is no strife over it later on.

- michelle on May 10th, 2007

Bravo!!!!!!
Good for them!!! I personally despise guns!!! As a teenager over 20 years I witnessed my friend get accidentally killed by his friend with a gun. I cringe at the sight of guns real or toys. There is no reason that children should play guns, there is nothing glamorous about guns.

- Laila on May 10th, 2007

Good for Brad and Angie! I think we should do all we can to protect our sons and daughters from seeing violence. There’s a big difference between playing guns with toast or cheese and reinacting violence a child has seen on tv or in a movie.

I am shocked to read here that some parents bring children to frightening R-rated films! Wow. I would consider that emotional abuse. No child should ever be exposed to that. Parents should do everything they can do preserve a childs innocence and safeguard their world. How sad.

- yogadaisy on May 10th, 2007

I must have had a rotten childhood, lol.
My dad used to play “Zombie” with us and me and my sisters would run around the house and hide from him because he was going to “eat our brains” When he caught us, he would tickle us. It was pretty fun

We also watched horror movies with him, snuggled on the couch. I was horribly afraid, but my sisters used to like them. I can remember my mom telling me “Liza, Freddies on!” to scare me into my room so I would go to bed.

I think those things really added to the amount of anxiety I have had over the course of my life over stupid things, like being home alone, etc.

My husband and his friends do play violent video games. I do not allow that in front of my children, because I want my sons to learn to be gentle, kind men, like their father is.

- Liza on May 10th, 2007

I dont watch violent movies and neither will my son! It makes no sense to watch nasty movies! NONE!
It has no redeeming value…
America makes all these violent movies and then we destroy the world with our Cowboy Mentality!
Furthermore…
I hate parents who let their little kids watch South Park!
Hello? Its on at 10:00 pm for a reason!

- preesi on May 10th, 2007

Oh Lauren I know what you mean all too well. Some people (if they can afford it) take their kids to whatever movie they think they want to see (spoiling them imho), or they’re too cheap to get a sitter so they just drag the kids along.

As far as other types of video violence, the neighbor boys ages 12, 8, and 6 who live next to me claim they love to watch a certain ECW Backyard Wrestling “Bloodiest Matches” DVD and/or “Scarred” on MTV (“Scarred” is a new program where young men supposedly 16-18+ send video footage of themselves crashing from skateboards, bmx trick bikes, etc. telling how they got their scars), then their grandparents wonder why the oldest & youngest love to climb on their house roof and try to jump off!?!

Plus I’m not even going to go into where online/PC video games like Counter-Strike can lead to. (Just ask the victims of Eric, Dylan, and Cho…Oh wait, you can’t! :’( )

Oh yeah people always tend to find the loopholes in society and try to jump through them, and sadly that’s especially true of kids.

Now what I’d meant was, if you did a survey of the parents of most preschoolers, most wouldn’t want to admit that they intetionally let their children watch violent and/or sexual films, although who knows what the actual truth is?

- Autyumn on May 10th, 2007

What is it with americans and their love for guns anyway? You constantly show the world how violent your country really is by high school shootings and what not.

- Hea on May 10th, 2007

Hea?
Exactly!

We Americans sure love our Hostels and SAW IIs, yet GOD FORBID they show two men kissing!

- preesi on May 10th, 2007

I may have some issues with my kids playing with toy guns, but it is mostly out of safety concerns (cops shooting kids because they don’t know if the gun is real or not), rather than it turning them into murderers or something.

Autumn-when you bring up the video game connection to Cho, that is not true. His roommate said he was just writing things on his computer, but never playing any games. The Counter-Strike story was briefly mentioned in the Washington Post, but later retracted, since it could not be verified. If you got the information from one Jack Thompson (the so-called “school shooting expert” who has been making the rounds on some of the news shows), ignore it. He is infamous for lying and fabricating tenuous connections to damage the video game industry.

As for the backyard wrestling, and Scarred, that’s not violence, it’s just stupidity. And eventually, they may do something stupid enough to ensure they won’t breed and spread their chromosomes into the next generation. That is natural selection working its course.

Shmoo and Hea-toy guns can help kids work through their feelings that they are often made to deny. Here are some quotes from the article I linked to that I feel really make a lot of sense.

“We’ve found that every aspect of even the trashiest pop-culture story can have its own developmental function. Pretending to have superhuman powers helps children conquer the feelings of powerlessness that inevitably come with being so young and small. The dual-identity concept at the heart of many superhero stories helps kids negotiate the conflicts between the inner self and the public self as they work through the early stages of socialization. Identification with a rebellious, even destructive, hero helps children learn to push back against a modern culture that cultivates fear and teaches dependency.

“At its most fundamental level, what we call “creative violence” — head-bonking cartoons, bloody videogames, playground karate, toy guns — gives children a tool to master their rage. Children will feel rage. Even the sweetest and most civilized of them, even those whose parents read the better class of literary magazines, will feel rage. The world is uncontrollable and incomprehensible; mastering it is a terrifying, enraging task. Rage can be an energizing emotion, a shot of courage to push us to resist greater threats, take more control, than we ever thought we could. But rage is also the emotion our culture distrusts the most. Most of us are taught early on to fear our own. Through immersion in imaginary combat and identification with a violent protagonist, children engage the rage they’ve stifled, come to fear it less, and become more capable of utilizing it against life’s challenges.”

I highly suggest Gerard Jones’ book, “Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super-Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence.”

- Naughty Cal on May 10th, 2007

I’m so glad to read this. I will NOT let my son/children play with toy guns either. I remember babysitting a 2 1/2 year old that would play with guns all the time at his house but was not allowed to in my house so he would build them with legos and pretend to shot my cats and dogs Not healthy in my opinion. There is a huge link between kids who show violence towards animals at a young age and adults who murder/rape/violence.

It’s better to keep kids, kids as long as possible!

- Melea on May 10th, 2007

Parents are oversensitive these days. when we were kids we all had plastic guns and played cops and robbers etc etc – and guess what, none of us are serial killers. If you are raising a healthy, well-rounded child they can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. You can’t protect a child from every ounce of violence in the world – one day he or she is going to grow up and realise it’s all around.

- lanie on May 10th, 2007

That’s the point, lanie. I’d much rather explain violence to a 12 year old than to a 4 year old.

There’s a huge difference in what a pre-teen can comprehend vs. a toddler or pre-schooler. If you have children you know that you can engage an older child in conversations and use it as an opening for a discussion. That’s when real learning takes place but a toddler simply cannot understand yet. Violence IS a part of our world but I believe we should protect small children from it as long as possible.

Shame on parents who expose their children to violence too soon via the media.

- yogadaisy on May 10th, 2007

did lazer sabres (like Obi-Wan)or wands are considered like “weapons” as a gun???
Cause I baby sit a 7 years old boy since 5 years now (it’s incredible to see him growing year after year) and he loves to play “jedi fight” and “wizard fight” ( 21 years old and I kill Dark Vador and Voldemort every week, I’am quite proud lol.) He also loves to play killing “zombies, monsters, and creatures with 2 or 3 heads”…
He has a great imagination and it’s always funny to follow him all around the garden pretending hunting a “troll” or anything else.
I know it’s a killing game but I think I quite different than playing with a gun.
It’s different than just “shoot” at somebody (me and one of his friends) cause he creates all a history: we must find the footmarks of the monster, where it’s hidden and we have a long list of spell to kill it and we must find the right one…not easy).
But I must admit I think he was quite young when he saw Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Ring, Narnia etc… (4 or 5 years old).
But I am not his mother so what can I say?

I’am sorry for my english (I am french) and my long post!!!!
great site and Anya is so lovely (I love her “pouick pouick” shoes)

- sabine on May 10th, 2007

Oh my children wont be until their out of my house!

- Callen on May 10th, 2007

I have two younger brothers who turn just about anything into a “sword” and have done so for years. They like these more than guns, a decision they made themselves. They play some fighting video games and love to wrestle on the big bed. They do a martial art but they are the most considerate and loving and non-violent boys. Our dad made a deliberate decision to prepare them to be strong men, which is nice. I disagree with parents turning their boys into feminine creatures. Helping them turn into masculine men doesn’t mean making them chauvinists or violent.

We actually had a funny experience at the Royal Easter Show (this is kind of Australia’s largest county fair)… the family was walking around near the show-bag section and a father stormed up tugging along two little kids and a huge show bag. He said “we don’t allow our kids to play with guns, maybe you’d like them?” He handed over the showbag which was brimming with guns… Scarily it was like a vietnam commando showbag (who thinks of these things!). Afterwards, we were randomly pulled over on freeway by the police. The driver’s wallet with licence was in the boot (trunk) when she opened it, the trunk was brimming with plastic guns. The cop took a step back for a minute before he realised they were fakes.

- Lilybett on May 10th, 2007

History is full of violence. In fact, history is nearly all violence. Would you stop teaching them about the Civil War and various US revolutions because there were guns involved?

We still use the boys’ sword play as a chance to teach them history. Because they like Pirates of the Caribbean we taught them about the English fighting the Spanish armada, Horatio Nelson’s death on the Victory and other battles. Moved onto movies and shows with Errol Flynn and Hornblower.

We also used it to teach them about Japanese history and the culture of the Samurai, which was slowly killed off by Western guns. The roman and greek battles, the scottish battles.

- Lilybett on May 10th, 2007

Just as an aside, we also put them in the Hague if they breached the Geneva convention and pretended to shoot or stab someone with their hands up.

- Lilybett on May 10th, 2007

No toy guns for my kids (but they are both girls, so it’s not so hard–the interest isn’t there), but I don’t like them seeing images of them either. I hate, hate, hate that at any given time before 8pm, you can switch on the TV and see teasers for upcoming episodes of just about anything, or even the images of the Virginia Tech shooter, plastered across the screen (after 8:00 or so, it’s fine, I understand). And the front page of the newspaper! We talk about the dangers of guns, but I don’t want them getting the idea of “how bad can they be, everyone on TV has one?” Ugh.

- Laura AS1 on May 10th, 2007

THATS MESSED UP HOW THEY DONT LET THA KIDS PLAY W TOY GUNS. THERES NUTHIN’ WRONG W TOY GUNS

- NICOLE on May 10th, 2007

Aside from my personal beliefs (which are more conservative than one might guess), I find it deliciously ironic that a pair of actors who have made a very sweet living out of perpetuating gun violence on the Big Screen would suddenly wax contrite about toy guns when it comes to their own offspring.

For lack of a better example, it’s rather like a drug dealer having the audacity to coach his/her offspring on the evils of doing drugs.

Sorry, I don’t buy into double-standards, and I’m willing to bet the Jolie-Pitt kids won’t either.

- mom4bob on May 11th, 2007

Hea, I’m sorry but I don’t see how commenting about school shootings is saying Americans love guns. NOT ALL AMERICANS love guns, I think you are being pretty stereotypical.

- Diana on May 11th, 2007

Hey mom4bob,

Naturally you would find it ironic and I don’t understand why. There are millions of people who smoke but tell their children not to smoke that could be considered hypocritically. Yes, we all should practice what we preach however our jobs as parents should be to protect our children. The fact that they have both made a living on perpetuating gun violence on the Big Screen is a separate issue from how they choose to raise their children. And yes they have made millions but we as consumers need to be smarter about what we allow our own children to watch. And the last time I checked I don’t recall ever seeing either one of them making movies geared towards children, they are typically more adult oriented films.

- Meela on May 11th, 2007

Diana,
Myabe not ALL, but look at the history. There are school shootings in the US constantly, where there is virtually none anywhere else in the world. Obviously there’s a reason for that. Have you ever seen the movie Bowling for Columbine? All the info is right there about the gun obsessed mentality of the United States.

- MommyX1 on May 11th, 2007

I’m totally on board with their line of thinking.

My mother didn’t allow toy guns or water guns in our house and I have the same policy in our house. I don’t allow my children to watch violent films or cartoons. I have a strong belief that talking with your children is the best way to prevent them from engaging in bad behaviors. My children know exactly why I don’t allow them to play with toy guns, swords or any other item which can be used as a weapon and as a result they inform me if other children play with weapons when they have play dates. When that occurs, no more play dates with those children. Parents may not always have control over all aspects of their childrens lives but choosing their friends and playmates while they are young and still in one’s charge is a way to help them differentiate and remain true to themselves and their values.

I don’t think it’s ok to encourage children to ‘pretend’ kill and I think it’s irresponsible of many parents to allow their children to engage in violent activities or observe violence passively through the television. Too many people assume that all animated films are ok for children. Many of them are very violent both physically and verbally. And then we wonder why we live in such a violent society.

- yaosa on May 11th, 2007

I can’t believe I’m actually going to defend Angelina and Brad, but here it goes. Mom4bob, I understand your point. However, Angelina’s and Brad’s violent films (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Seven, Lara Croft, etc.) are all movies that are either rated PG-13 or R-meaning that they are not intended to be seen by children 5 and younger, which is what their kids are. Older people are (hopefully) able to understand that the violence they are seeing on TV or in the movies is fake, stylized, and unacceptable in the real world. Children, on the other hand, are more often than not too immature to understand that what is on TV or in movies or stories is not real (why else would so many children fear imaginary villains like monsters or The Boogeyman?)
That said, I see your point as I said already. Who knows what they’ll let their kids do or not do when they get older. For right now, though, I think they’re only trying to shield their kids from age-inappropriate material, which is how it should be.

- Lauren on May 11th, 2007

Head, meet desk. Desk, head.

Yaosa, I would strongly encourage you to read the article I linked to at the top. It’s understandable that you and a lot of parents have concerns about kids play-fighting, and whether or not that turns them violent. However, pretend violence is harmless, as it is not a predictor of real-world violence, and the more you impose those sorts of outright limits, the more your kids will want to test them. See if this changes your mind, and if it doesn’t, let me know exactly why you disagree.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2000/06/violent_media.html

And I would also like to challenge the belief that we live in such a violent society. FBI stats have shown a steadily decreasing crime rate, both among juveniles and society at large, and that violent crime is at its lowest point in nearly 30 years.

- Naughty Cal on May 11th, 2007

Hey meela,

I thank you for taking the words right out of my mouth – it was actually my very next thought. LOL Incidentally, I also don’t agree with parents telling their kids not to smoke when they do.

We grown-ups can try to justify our behavior all we like, but practicing what one preaches is a reality that cannot be denied.

- mom4bob on May 11th, 2007

I have a question, Meela. On what basis do you state that I would “naturally” find this situation ironic?

Using this term implies that you and I are aquainted on some level – well enough for you to have an idea of what is “natural” to my way of thinking.

As far as I recall, we have never met.

- mom4bob on May 11th, 2007

I’m an adult and I would absolutely buy my kids toy guns. Toy guns don’t make kids violent. Every generation before this one grew up playing with guns. They weren’t violent. Today’s overprotected, sheltered kids are the ones who are violent.

- Rebecca on May 12th, 2007

My son of 5 years plays with toy guns and dolls. His guns don’t look as real ones. In Holland it is illegal to play with black and look o likes guns.
Aslong you guide your child how to play with it and teach them that real ones are dangerous.It will turns out that they will be oke.My friend who is a child psychologist, she let her clients play with toy guns. Children need to express there anger when they are playing.
I’am against any voilents, don’t get me wrong.
Just let the children explore there emotions.

- evie on May 12th, 2007

i dont allow my boys to play with guns at all and never will but my husbands family are constantly over ruling me and let them play with them in there house I live next door whole other issue but I find the idea of a 3 year old making a guin sound pretending to shot his mother or father discusting, with my 5 year old having some understanding now of what death is he dosent do it anymore but yet my father in law bought them a gun each for Christmas last year and I threw it out the same as the year before and the scarey part about it is the toy guns are starting ot look more and more like the real thing anyway.
I also think as a socioty in general we are becoming decinsitised to violence so why not let our children have a childhood where they dont have to see blood and guts on a movie screen bring back the old disney movie anyday thats what we watch in our household. and parents whose kids are watching these things wake up to yourselves and realise the damage you are doing to the next generation

- mrsgrugsplat on May 12th, 2007

Mom4bob,

I phrased it that way “naturally” because whether this couple last for 2 months or 20 years, people will have something to point out that their doing wrong. Regardless of what they do. I can always set my clock and just scroll down to read someone finding fault with whatever they are doing. So I’m happy that they have managed to live a life inspite of the negativity.

- meela on May 12th, 2007