Don't Give Up on the Kids!

[BE Mike]

A little while back, I posted that I took one of my granddaughters shooting for the first time. She is the youngest of two (9 years old). We had an extensive safety, familiarization class and dry firing session before we actually hit the range. The 12 year old refused to go because she said that she was scared of guns. Some out-of-town friends with a 12 year old boy came to visit and I was asked to take him and the youngest granddaughter shooting today. I told the parents that there would be some of the same training before going to the range as before. My "scared" 12 year old granddaughter tagged along. She did well with the pre-range training. At the range, she was all smiles when shooting the .22 handgun and .22 rifle. She was safe and followed directions well. They all three shot each gun well and handled them well, too. I never put any pressure on the "scared" granddaughter, but she knew that she was always welcome. Sometimes it pays to have an abundance of patience and let kids figure things out for themselves. Afterwards, I congratulated all three kids on their accurate shooting and safe gun handling. I got the 12 year old granddaughter aside and congratulated her on facing her fears. She said, with a smile, that she had fun.

 

[TJ Kackowski]

I think that the boy may have had something to do with her wanting to tag along. But once the shooting starts, it's hard to not have fun with that.

 

[BE Mike]

I think that the boy may have had something to do with her wanting to tag along. But once the shooting starts, it's hard to not have fun with that.

Peer pressure can work more than one way! Kids always are pulled in different directions.

 

[actaeon277]

 

[MCgrease08]

Great story!