Is it better to get someone else to train your kids?

I think the biggest problem is waiting until they are older to start teaching them. You dont need an "instructor" to teach them not to play with matches, touch the stove, run in traffic, or do any of the other daily dangerous things they may encounter in their lives, whats any different with guns?

If you start while they are still in the stage that "you" are the teacher/programmer, and there are no other outside influences, then you generally get better results. Once they get older, and have had other influences, and may now have other distractions, it becomes a little more of a challenge.

If they already have all the basics down before school starts, then youre already way ahead of things. If they never want to touch a gun again (unlikely though at that point), who cares, they are already trained in them to at least be safe and know what they are, how they operate, and what to expect from them.

Its sort of like drown proofing your kids. Our kids didnt now how to actually "swim'' (according to the "experts") until they were 6 or so, but they were in the water basically from birth, and could be thrown in with little worry of them drowning, simply because they knew how to come up for air and not panic. Try teaching that to a kid whos never been in the water at age 10. Its a lot more difficult.
 
I taught my 3 kids and it seemed to go well enough. I'm still teaching my older son and guiding him into comfortable concealed carry. He's definitely seeing a different side of me-the old man who's seen the elephant.
 
She does want to shoot. On her own, she wrote out the 4 rules of hand gun saftey and she also drew different kind of sight pictures and almost got it right. She seemed to mix up bad sight pictures with unsafe gun handling. I guess that's not too far off, if someone can't hit the target they do create unsafe conditions. But she did that on her own and she did tell me that she wants to learn to fire.

Still, I looked into some jr shooter programs. The club close to use has a $400 one-time fee plus a $175.00 membership fee. Kind of steep so I've been looking for other options.

For some reason, the trigger on my Sheridan Blue-Streak has turned into a really stiff 2 stage trigger. It was great to learn on when I was a kid, but the trigger on it now needs work for some reason.
 
I can see where getting someone else to teach you is good idea. My father is a brilliant man and a professor at Johns Hopkins but all of us kids had private tutors growing up. My father was fully capable of doing it himself and even worked as a private tutor but with us it just didn't work.
 
Basic training or more advanced?

Basic safety training is not that hard, more advanced training you might want someone else to do.
 
I was/am an instructor for rifle and pistol and teaching my kids were easy. The wife was a different story. I talked to a lot of my comrades and heard the same thing. Some wives are easy students and eager to learn but not from their husband.
 
Have her start off with the NRA Basic Pistol or NRA Basic Rifle if you go the instructor route. Some instructors charge for private or group lessons and some do not. Some ranges or clubs may have a public day with instructors on the range to work with the public shooters.
 
I got a lot of good ideas from this thread, I am going to check out 4H and jr. shooter programs.

I read that the shooting sports are declining - mainly hunting. The article may have been wrong, i don't know. But it's odd to me that we want to promote the sport but at least in my area we really make it expensive to get your kids into shooting.

The clubs where I'm at have $400 initial fee and $175 yearly fee. That is pretty expensive.

Compare that to other kids activities and it is just really expensive.
 
C0untZer0,

More often than not I think Children and loved ones absorb more when they are taught from an outside source. It just makes things easier sometimes.

I am not sure what part if Illinois you are from but you might want to check out Safer USA: http://www.saferusa.com/learn-to-shoot/

They offer a basic pistol courses that is 8 hours in length for $160.00 and $80.00 for youth (double check prices I am quoting from memory) if I am not mistaken. All of their NRA courses are also one-half off for youth 17 years old and younger.

Best of luck to you.
 
NRA Jr. Rifle Program.

My daughter shoots NRA Jr. Rifle. It's a great way for kids to shoot with kids and find their own social structure within the shooting sports.

She does A LOT better with her coaches instruction than she does with mine, however, I do make sure safety rules are ALWAYS followed.

I'm not really concerned with her punching the bullseye out of the target, but I am concerned with safety on the firing line.
 
I'm surprised SAF does training. They don't have any youth program / training, but I might contact them, maybe there is someone who trains. That's the way it is with the local skeet/trap club. They just have someone who works with the kids but there isn't anything published.

The Illinois Rifle Assiociation doesn't have anything in my area.

I have two kids who have their targets on the refrigerator, and another one who is crying her eyes out because she hasn't hit the bullseye :(
 
ok i can help here

As one of my early ski industry carrear moves i was hired as a childrens ski instructor. I advanced my skills and am now a certified professional instructor. I still do this for fun.
Let me make it clear that any parent can teach their child anything. We had one of the most successful childrens ski programs in the nation by using a method the PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America) refers to as the Train the Trainer Method. Its all about parents and children taking the lesson together. Works for any two people in a relationship where one person is more skilled at an activity than the other.
Basically an instructor begins the teaching by starting the lesson as though the two participants are equalls and teaches both like they are beginners. If one participant is more advanced they learn excellent teaching skills and the other begins to learn the activity itself. Eventually the two bond over the lesson and they are given things to work on together between lessons.
My suggestion is to take training together you may both learn something:)
 
One of the fondest memories of my father was the first time he took me and my brothers shooting. Here at the Firearms Academy of Seattle, we believe it is the parents responsibility to teach their kids gun safety. We will teach the parents they teach the kids. We get asked all the time for kids classes, and we could make money teaching them, but sorry folks, it is your responsibility to teach your kids about guns.
 
There are two things a man should NEVER try to teach his significant other:
Driving and Shooting
Click to expand...

I hear that. Kids are accustomed to taking some instruction from their fathers. Wives are not accustomed to taking instruction from their husbands.
 
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