Early training for a small child

[Quietpi]

LOL! I can Gare-onn-tee that Walt Lear's actions were <<NOT>> what the researchers were looking for! And I can gare-onn-tee that the researchers were looking for a particular outcome (because I know the education establishment), and that sure as heck wasn't it!

I concede some of what I said re: age appropriateness. Evaluation of the individual kid, and surrounding circumstances, remains critical.

[sealbeach]

Originally Posted by DVSmith

Age is a very dubious method of determining the physical, mental and emotional ability of a human being to participate in any activity. I started teaching one of my sons to ride a motorcycle at age 4 the other one at age 6. What were the differences? One had much better balance and fine motor skills at a younger age. Both were incompetent to maneuver a motorcycle in traffic, but were capable of managing and maneuvering a motorcycle with very close management from an adult running alongside ready to lift the rear wheel off the ground if they got out of control in a wide open dirt field.

What does this have to do with teaching a four year old to shoot? I consider them to both be activities that undertaken with the proper oversight can be either reasonably safe or without the proper oversight extremely dangerous.

In the end it is you the parent that has to determine their capacity to understand and follow directions. It is also you the parent that takes on the responsibility for any mishap or injury that occurs as a result of your child's activity.

In BSA, we start Cub Scouts out with BB guns as early as in the first grade on supervised ranges where each Cub gets a single round fed into their BB gun at a time. This give the range master and RSO's the ability to react and limits the damage to one round of fire. It is also the standard established by BSA. Frequently the smallest (although not necessarily youngest) shooters require BB Guns that have shortened stocks. We can't solve the trigger finger length problem if they have extremely small hands. BB Gun Stocks can be cut down or sometimes come with removable segments to adjust their length.

The only word or caution beyond the obvious safety concerns is that you can burn a little person out on shooting really easily if they are not having fun and improving as they go. At young ages they can get discourage by a better shooter (like yourself) showing off then feeling incapable of keeping up. Come to think of it, that is probably true of older shooters too!

Oh, and just to reiterate a previous post, BB Guns and Air Soft are prohibited in many municipalities. If you don't already own a copy, be sure to buy "Own a Gun & Stay Out of Jail" by John Machtinger.

+1 on the BSA training. We had our kids both take this (twice) before using real guns--the safety lecture from the scout leaders is very well done, and it applies to real guns or BB guns.

The kids got their first guns at the age of 7, our boy was ready to go, but the girl (one year later) was just too small to handle the weight and length of the gun. Now she is 8, and we have gotten her a "pink" Cricket rifle, and she is doing a lot better, it fits her better and she can sort of aim it.

Our 4 year old is just nowhere near dialed into the shooting thing yet, although she goes to range days and sees the shooting, she is not interested yet, and we are not rushing the whole thing.

Here is the pink Cricket rifle, great for a small child, short stock, lightweight and it is a full .22LR gun.

Rifles

Here is the gun we got our son first, its a Savage "Cub" model, also great for a young shooter:

Savage Arms Mini Youth Model Cub

[Bombard]

Can a girl train with the cub scouts? I thought they were boys only?

[DVSmith]

There are occasions where Cub Camps host family outings and they open the range to all family members. It depends on the facility and the rangemaster.

But in general you are correct; Cub Scouts are males only.

[Apeman88]

I used to think 8~10 (depending on kids maturity) is a good age to get them started. A little more than a month ago... my 3 1/2 year old grew interest in my safe and the contents in it. A few weeks later... I decided to show him my little collection. His eyes popped at every gun I showed him. Then one night... he started crying saying he wanted to shoot my guns. Out of frustration, I took him out to the garage and hanged a box with a target on it... grabbed my Glock airsoft gun and started teaching him the rules, how to hold and shoot a gun.

We've been shooting almost every night for the past week. I start with, whats the first rule... he would reply... Never place your finger on the trigger until your ready to shoot... what's the second rule... he would say... never point a gun at any person or anything you do not want to shoot.. what's the 3rd rule... he would say... never ever put your finger on trigger. Yes... this is MY 3 year old... and yes... I'm proud. But what makes me the proudest is as soon as I hand him the airsoft... he grabs it with his little teeny hands and the trigger finger is pointing as high as it will go almost touching he slide!

At around 2 years old... he started building guns out of legos and would pretend to shoot his older sisters... now... he would still build his guns out of legos but he would not point at people any more... he would pretend to shoot his teddy bear and other stuffed animals... and yes... with trigger finger way up until the teddy is lined up and sighted.

Up until a few months ago... I would say at least 8 would be good age to get him started... but with a few dialogs with friends and people on this forum... I changed my mind... and now all my kids... 3, 7 and 10 shoot the airsoft when ever they want but alway under my supervision. They know NOT to touch the airsofts unless I hand it to them. Now...just gotta find time to get them out there and try the real thing!

[BonoVox]

Originally Posted by Apeman88

I used to think 8~10 (depending on kids maturity) is a good age to get them started. A little more than a month ago... my 3 1/2 year old grew interest in my safe and the contents in it. A few weeks later... I decided to show him my little collection. His eyes popped at every gun I showed him. Then one night... he started crying saying he wanted to shoot my guns. Out of frustration, I took him out to the garage and hanged a box with a target on it... grabbed my Glock airsoft gun and started teaching him the rules, how to hold and shoot a gun.

We've been shooting almost every night for the past week. I start with, whats the first rule... he would reply... Never place your finger on the trigger until your ready to shoot... what's the second rule... he would say... never point a gun at any person or anything you do not want to shoot.. what's the 3rd rule... he would say... never ever put your finger on trigger. Yes... this is MY 3 year old... and yes... I'm proud. But what makes me the proudest is as soon as I hand him the airsoft... he grabs it with his little teeny hands and the trigger finger is pointing as high as it will go almost touching he slide!

At around 2 years old... he started building guns out of legos and would pretend to shoot his older sisters... now... he would still build his guns out of legos but he would not point at people any more... he would pretend to shoot his teddy bear and other stuffed animals... and yes... with trigger finger way up until the teddy is lined up and sighted.

Up until a few months ago... I would say at least 8 would be good age to get him started... but with a few dialogs with friends and people on this forum... I changed my mind... and now all my kids... 3, 7 and 10 shoot the airsoft when ever they want but alway under my supervision. They know NOT to touch the airsofts unless I hand it to them. Now...just gotta find time to get them out there and try the real thing!

Great story!

I am looking to take my daughter out sometime too. The airsoft is a great idea to practice and teach safety and the rules before hand.

[sealbeach]

I think that by this time my 9 year old son has shot more guns than I did throughout most of my life--he has shot 22's, SKS, muzzle loaders, .50 cal, AR15, AK47, he has gotten spoiled! His plain old .22's are boring to him now.

The key "incentive" i gave him to get him to focus on hitting bulleyes is cold hard cash--he gets 25 cents for every x-ring he hits, and face value for the rest of his shots (9 cents, 8 cents, etc.).

[1buba]

Originally Posted by sealbeach

I think that by this time my 9 year old son has shot more guns than I did throughout most of my life--he has shot 22's, SKS, muzzle loaders, .50 cal, AR15, AK47, he has gotten spoiled! His plain old .22's are boring to him now.

Same with Anthony, in fact, I think he's shot some guns that I haven't!

Originally Posted by sealbeach

The key "incentive" i gave him to get him to focus on hitting bulleyes is cold hard cash--he gets 25 cents for every x-ring he hits, and face value for the rest of his shots (9 cents, 8 cents, etc.).

I like that idea! I'll tell Anthony to keep count and send you the numbers. lol

[THaves]

Wow 4 years old seem too young to me. She is your daughter so its your call but I think its just too early mentally and physically to introduce a child to weapon that can kill.

My boys are two next month and are both 35lbs they have toy AR 15's that make a wonderful sound when fired. Toy guns are as close as they will get to the real thing for a long time.

I have a Winchester 62A pump action for them when they are old enough I must admit I can not wait to teach them to shoot. Mind you the way things are going with the three evil witches Clinton, Fienstein and Pelosi I may not get the chance !

[SierraNevadaCCW]

Originally Posted by THaves

Wow 4 years old seem too young to me. She is your daughter so its your call but I think its just too early mentally and physically to introduce a child to weapon that can kill.

My boys are two next month and are both 35lbs they have toy AR 15's that make a wonderful sound when fired. Toy guns are as close as they will get to the real thing for a long time.

I have a Winchester 62A pump action for them when they are old enough I must admit I can not wait to teach them to shoot. Mind you the way things are going with the three evil witches Clinton, Fienstein and Pelosi I may not get the chance !

My 4 year old daughter weighs 35lbs and my 6 year old son weighs 45lbs.

We had a town faire a couple of weeks ago and the boy scouts had a shooting booth set up with air rifles, targets and prizes. The sign was for 2 year olds and up. We saw little kids with the boy scout older boys firing away and winning toys. It was cool.

[cyberhh]

I bought my daughter a Pink Cricket when she was 5 (she is 6 now). We walk through safety with it in her hands, and I quiz her from time to time on it, and when I am satisfied with her "dry" performance we will go to the range (probably Rohauges) - she has a rubber band gun and a single action cap gun (never bought caps) with pink holster that we got her in tombstone. She is not allowed to point it at anything she does not want to "kill" - nothing living, ever, we tend to treat it a lot like a real gun. We (wife and I) feel that if it looks like a gun, it should be treated like a gun, safety always first.

My dad took me shooting with a 10/22 when I was 5 - he helped me with the first few shots and then I was on my own. My father was specific about gun safety and because of my young age, it has always stuck with me.

IMHO - The younger you start working with your kids, the safer they will be.

[Glock32]

My son is almost six years old. My daughter is eight. She shows very little interest in firearms so far, but she likes to hold and aim her brother's Henry Mini.
My son has never fired the rifle. About once every month he asks if he can see it. The drill goes like this:
I open the safe and he asks if it is O.K. for him to take out his rifle. He picks it up at the barrel watching the muzzle closely. He then points it in a safe direction and opens the bolt. He visually inspects the chamber and announces: 'It's not loaded dad'. (I will test him soon with a spent case). He then names stock, bolt barrel, front and rear sight and we go over the safety rules and sight alignment. The bolt stays open at all times. His finger stays off the trigger.
At the end of the training session he closes the bolt, puts the rifle back in it's spot and we close the safe.
So far he has been happy with dry practice and I see no reason to push him. I think we will start with a little BB gun in the desert next to see if he's ready. I figure 2008 will be his year and I hope my daughter will give it a try, too, once little brother starts popping baloons.