Q: A while back, the boys from next door (ages 6 and 8) began inviting my 5-year-old son to play good guys/bad guys and "war" with them. Initially, the games were simple with toy guns and lots of "I killed you," "You're dead," and so on. I let the games continue but tried to teach my son appropriate ways to play, such as not pointing a toy gun at people who aren't playing the game. The neighbor boys do not have any such rules, and my son thinks this is unfair. He is now asking for a more realistic toy gun, and I'm concerned that he's becoming obsessed with violence and killing. Should I not allow him to play these games any longer and/or try to discourage him from playing with these boys?

A: Allowing boys to play "army" or "good guys/bad guys" does not, in and of itself, lead to later antisocial, much less homicidal, behavior. I agree that it is rude to point a toy gun at someone who is not playing the game, and I agree that you should enforce this rule even if the other boys' parents do not. As for your son becoming "obsessed," children often tend to become fixated on things they sense make their parents anxious. I suspect that you are becoming a bit obsessed about your son's toy gun "obsession," and that one obsession is now fueling the other. If you can adopt a more relaxed, "let boys be boys" attitude toward this gun-play, it will run its course in due time.

Now, should the boys next door become cruel to animals or smaller children, or if they still seem obsessed with guns and killing three years from now, I'd recommend putting brakes on the relationship, but for now I think this is fairly harmless. By the way, when I was eight or nine, "army" was all I played for a time, during which my friends and I "killed" one another on a daily basis, sometimes more than once a day, which proves that God has not stopped performing miracles.

Q: When our son turned 2, my husband and I converted his crib to a toddler bed. Since then, he has refused to stay in his bed, even his room, so we installed a child-proof gate. At bedtime, we go through our usual routine after which I put him in his bed and read to him for a while. When I leave, he stands at the gate and cries for a few minutes and then all is quiet. When I check on him later, I always find him asleep curled up in the "big blue chair" that we have rocked him in since birth. I pick him up and put him back to bed.

Why does he prefer to sleep in his chair rather than his bed? Am I doing the right thing putting him in his bed or should I leave him in the chair and let him figure this out for himself?

A: One of my alter-egos, Herr Doktor Zigmond Fraud, has generously offered to answer your question: "Isn't zis obvious?" says the good doctor, "Zis poor young boy prefers sleepink in ze blue chair because blue is ze color of ze sky. Ven he curls up in ze blue chair, he imagines zat he is a bird, flyink avay from his parents' tyranny tovard a state of frrreedom and bliss. And zat is ze final vurd on ze subject."

Thank you, Doktor Fraud. Here's my take: You're describing what is known as "transitional behavior," or behavior that makes a transition — in this case, from crib to bed — easier for a child to deal with. This too will pass. With the exception of beginning to worry about things that deserve not a second thought, you're doing fine. Choose: Ze Doktor or me?

John Rosemond is a family psychologist. Reach him at Affirmative Parenting, 1020 East 86th St., Suite 26B, Indianapolis, IN 46240 or through www.rosemond.com.