A couple of weeks ago I took my yougest son (6) to the range for the first time. While he didn't get to shoot he was indeed fascinated. On the way home he repeatedly asked for his own gun. Being the iron willed father that I am I agreed of course !
Having recently changed back up guns (Ruger SP-101 for a Kahr K9) I had some trading capital on hand. On Monday I entered the local gunshop with the SP-101 in hand and left with a new Ruger Bearcat .22LR. Being very familiar with the attention span of small children (I have two more, 17 and 15) I fully expected that he had forgotten all about it. However, when I walked in the house and yelled "Son, I've got something for you." a small voice replied from downstairs "my gun !, my gun !" I then began to comprehend the scope of his interest.
So after school today off to the range we went. Once the required safety lecture was taken care of we started shooting. He did a pretty good job (of course, have you ever heard a parent say different ?). He's not strong enough to cock the gun yet so I had to do it for him. The little Bearcat does fit his hand well though. The one thing that suprised me though was how quickly he learned to load and unload the gun. He watched me do it a few times and was soon asking to unload it. I gave him the pistol and darned if he didn't do it ! Then it was "let me load it dad" and darned if he didn't do that too. I got a kick out of watching those little hands work that cylinder and ejector rod.
I went through the same thing with his older brother and sister. However, they never showed the level of interest he does. Besides, their old enough now that they're involved in all of that "teenager" stuff. Going to the range with dad is shall we say, rather gauche.
As we were leaving the range he looked at me and asked "when can we go again dad?" Music to my ears folks.
Having recently changed back up guns (Ruger SP-101 for a Kahr K9) I had some trading capital on hand. On Monday I entered the local gunshop with the SP-101 in hand and left with a new Ruger Bearcat .22LR. Being very familiar with the attention span of small children (I have two more, 17 and 15) I fully expected that he had forgotten all about it. However, when I walked in the house and yelled "Son, I've got something for you." a small voice replied from downstairs "my gun !, my gun !" I then began to comprehend the scope of his interest.
So after school today off to the range we went. Once the required safety lecture was taken care of we started shooting. He did a pretty good job (of course, have you ever heard a parent say different ?). He's not strong enough to cock the gun yet so I had to do it for him. The little Bearcat does fit his hand well though. The one thing that suprised me though was how quickly he learned to load and unload the gun. He watched me do it a few times and was soon asking to unload it. I gave him the pistol and darned if he didn't do it ! Then it was "let me load it dad" and darned if he didn't do that too. I got a kick out of watching those little hands work that cylinder and ejector rod.
I went through the same thing with his older brother and sister. However, they never showed the level of interest he does. Besides, their old enough now that they're involved in all of that "teenager" stuff. Going to the range with dad is shall we say, rather gauche.
As we were leaving the range he looked at me and asked "when can we go again dad?" Music to my ears folks.