Children no interest in shooting?

Renton83 said:

I loved it and have been into shooting ever since.

my 12 year old step daughter refuses to have anything to do with it.

I feel we both could enjoy.

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You won't both enjoy it if she refuses to participate. Give it time. If you force it, she'll likely hate it forever.

Find something she likes to do, and you learn to like that. Once you build the relationship, circle back around to shooting. She may have changed her mind by then.

I wouldn't push it. I've never understood parents that force their kids to do things they think they should enjoy just because you do.

That said, give it time, she may come around.

I have a different issue. Granddaughters have interest but mother, my daughter thinks guns are evil. Her husband not as bad. Have introduced them to air rifles. I think 12 year old is about ready for a .22 rifle.

At 12 years old, she has probably already been brainwashed by the socialists that seem to infest the educational system these days. So the first thing you need to do is determine why she doesn’t like guns. Then little by little give her the opportunity to acquire some knowledge about guns one tidbit at a time. Will that work? It’s worth a try, just don’t shove it at her or she will just totally block you out. Also consider that if you just married her mother, she may still be dealing with that adjustment, so just don’t push.

I think gspn gave great advice. Forget about guns for a while, as far as she's concerned. Build the relationship, let her grow to trust you and develop a bond based on something else. When I married my wife, everyone in her family hated guns. Brothers, sisters, parents, even my wife didn't like em or want them around. So I developed relationships with my in laws based on other things. Now all her brothers own guns and parents are happy to let the younger ones who are still home go shooting or hunting regularly.

I introduced my two boys at an early age, but we lived on a farm and I had my own 100 yd range. Wife1 was "meh" about shooting anyhow.

I did find over the years that some women and some men just cannot "take" the shock wave even from long-barreled .22s.

I suspect/theorize/speculate it's inherent in their neurological makeup and is not unprecedented across individuals of different species.

I am not characterizing these people as "dogs," so don't jump on me for that, but I suspect/theorize/speculate that is is similar to the fact that some dogs just can't take fireworks and thunder. It's not controllable by them, it just "is."

In a similar vein, some species of lab rats go into siezures when loud high-pitched sounds like the jingling of a set of keys occurs.

I reckon (meaning "suspect/theorize/speculate") that in some human cases, it might be "wired in" neurologically and it does no good to push it.

Just suspectin' and speculatin'.

Maybe the explosion of a volcano occurred in their ancestry 5000 years ago. <grin> Who's to say no?

Terry, 230RN

REF (Audiogenic seizures):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1478196

My take? Leave her be about it. She knows the door is open and, if she never comes through it, that's her choice.

Renton83

All of my kids and step-kids have an interest in guns, some a bit keener than others but all of them have at least been exposed to them and have been to the range. My kids have several of their own guns as do a couple of the step-kids and two of them have their CCW permit.

Agree with everyone who says don't push it; times change and so sometimes do perspectives and interests. I remember out of the blue one day my teenage daughter came up to me and asked me to show her how guns work and if I could take her shooting sometime! That was a great father-daughter moment and every trip to the range with her has been priceless!

Kid doesn't share parents' interests. Film at 11:00. You can always force the kid to shoot. That'll go over well.

I use my position as a 4-H Shooting Sports Leader to educate nervous parents (& kids) quite a bit. They see that we stress safety first, and are encouraging. I've had kids that had no interest in it come in and are discouraged when they can't shoot like a SEAL instantly like Hollywood says they should, but when we can give them some tips and they see improvement, the light in their eyes goes on.

My younger son had no interest in shooting or hunting when he was about 10; a product of the junior high he went to. He was even anti-hunting for a while. The Senior High has a tendency to turn kids into rednecks, did it to both my sons. The younger one was mad they wouldn't let him use a pic of him with my AK for his senior picture!

Sometimes it is just a phase, and you have to wait it out, and be available when they are ready.

One thing to do is ask her about what she likes and doesn't like about shooting.

Hearing protection that doesn't work well enough, boredom at the type of targets, lack of interest from peers...you may or may not be able to solve the problems but it might give you insight into what they are.

Depending on where you shoot perhaps do something to catch her interest. We shoot at a private range so I take a case of generic soda pop when I take my grandkids. Full soda cans literally explode even when shot with a .22 and provide instant feedback that the target they aimed at was hit, it is sure a lot more entertaining than punching holes in paper.

I say Cool,,,
More ammo for me.

Aarond

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I would make it a big deal between you and your wife when you guys go shooting and get a baby sitter for her. When you get back talk about it with your wife and let her hear the fun you both had, maybe she'll want to be apart. Also, if you have friends with kids that shoot have a BBQ and get your child introduced to the other kids and see what happens. If none of that works, put her for adoption lol just kidding.

You need to do what I do. Tie your kids up and force them to watch all the classics. The A-Team, Rambo 1-12, Anything Chuck Norris. After than they'll come around.

Seriously though, my boys are 9 and 11 and they've been shooting a half dozen times in the at few years. Neither is super interested though but they'll grow into it.

You may not be able to do anything about it if her dad is around and involved with her. Girls at this age see their stepdad as competition to their dads and may stay very loyal to him. In this case if he has ever said anything negative about shooting or guns you may never have a chance to get her to try it. Your a stepdad, set back and give her the best love and support in what she likes to do. It will pay off when she is about 17~20.

At 12 years old, she has probably already been brainwashed by the socialists that seem to infest the educational system these days.

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This. It must be a vast left-wing conspiracy, having nothing to do with individual people with different levels of interest in certain activities and the idiosyncratic nuance that characterizes child/guardian relationships.

a few years from now she won't care about much of anything but boys.

kids are like all humans. they like different things.

best bet is to find something she likes and participate in it with her. even if it is garden tea parties. pretty soon she will be off to join the marines and you won't see her for months at a time.

jmnsho

Don't force it on her

Just my 2cents....Don't force it on her. If see goes along, make it somehow enjoyable for her. For example, get ice cream, buy something she likes on the way home, McD's, go do something she likes, etc.

I've been trying to get my son to spark some interest in shooting, who is now 7yrs old. Started with water pistol, toy gun, air soft rifle, bb gun, different bb gun and so forth but little desire. He liked his AR style airsoft rifle. So I bought a smith Wesson 15-22 and he really likes shooting it. Never forced him to do it, otherwise it would have turned him off. By his own desire he tried shooting my 40sw xd.

Everytime we go the range we get ice cream or pop at the store. Always says yes when I ask if he wants to go.

My daughter is still to young, but It won't take much effort to get her into it. Every kid is different.

There is absolutely NO reason to force a daughter (much less a step daughter) to do anything that is not necessary. If you do, she will hate you & she'd be right. There is nothing wrong with introducing her to shooting, but if she doesn't like it, you'd be very foolish to force it on her. It would be a mistake even if you were her real father...an even bigger mistake since you're not. She would be thinking, "Why did mommy have to marry that controlling jerk?"

I was helping a co-worker & her 12 year old son move. Her son brought up the fact that I shoot recreationally & he was very disappointed to hear that someone he sort of liked was a gun owner - probably because he was influenced by watching the news on TV & the stories of people shooting each other. As a child, he learned that "People who like shooting, like to shoot people." Ten years later, his mother phoned me & said her son now owns two guns & wants me to take him to the range because "I have nicer guns he'd like to try out." We've been shooting ever since. That may (or may not) happen with your step daughter.

At 12 years old, she has probably already been brainwashed by the socialists that seem to infest the educational system these days.

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I retired from the educational system. I've never met one of these socialists you speak of. Educators, policemen, or workers in any other profession tend to reflect the social standards of the community where they live. Conservative areas of the country attract a conservative workforce , more liberal areas attract liberal workers and ideals.

My kids are grown with children of their own. They both enjoy shooting, just not nearly to the extent I do.

If she is going to live in a home where there are firearms I'd suggest you provide a required safety lesson in gun handling. I'd also strongly urge her to include at least a few rounds of live fire, but not force the issue. After that it is up to her.

I'll put my 2 cents in about forcing. My dad LOVED fly fishing. I LIKED fly fishing. He got to where he MADE me go with him every weekend from when the ice cleared out of the river thru September.

I have never picked up a rod since I was 15 years old. I HATE it now. I'm 60 years old now.

My son seems to love guns already, He is still too young to shoot (2 1/2 years old) but he loves watching Dirty Harry with me and watching the bad guys get beat with in his words is the "four-four magum". I dont forsee any trouble getting him to shoot when the time comes.