Juvenile Brinkmanship

It seems the proclivity to engage in arms races develops in us from a tender young age. Consider the following two examples.

1. From a psychology textbook, courtesy of our friend in Columbia's psych department:

We study exchanges like these, between David and Josh, two young children, in a section of my textbook on the development of "prosocial behavior."

• David: I'm a missile robot who can shoot missiles out of my fingers. I can shoot them out of everywhere - even out of my legs. I'm a missile robot.
• Josh: (tauntingly) No, you're a fart robot.
• David: (protestingly) No, I'm a missile robot.
• Josh: No, you're a fart robot.
• David: (hurt, almost in tears) No, Josh!
• Josh: (recognizing that David is upset) And I'm a poo-poo robot.
• David: (in good spirits again) I'm a pee-pee robot.

What kind of robot are you?

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2. During Sunday school recently, I went into a neighboring 2nd-grade classroom to get a few markers, and the students were doing a Passover art project. Two boys close to where I was standing were drawing the Angel of Death, and here is the brief exchange I overheard (names have been assigned arbitrarily; any resemblance to their actual names is purely coincidental):

• Moishe: My Angel of Death has a scythe to kill people!
• Shmuli: Oh yeah, my Angel of Death has a pitchfork!
• Moishe: Mine has a scythe and a pitchfork!
• Shmuli: Well, mine is spiky.

Unfortunately, I didn't hear what was surely a thrilling conclusion to this Angel of Death arms race.

What does your Angel of Death look like?