When to tell my kids????

Status
Not open for further replies.
A short follow up as promised in my last post:

I just bought a Yugo SKS and decided it would be a good time to let the cat out of the bag.....

So I took the rifle out and laid it on the floor and called my son into my office (He's only three, remember...) He walked in and we talked for a minute and then he said "What's that for?" (pointing to the rifle) Followed up with an immediate, "May I touch it?"

Woohoo! My kids DO listen (Although my wife would argue differently.)

He's asked twice if he could touch it since then; making me proud that he remembers the rules.

:)
 
The large majority of the opinions expressed above are great advice. Makes me proud to be a part of this forum. It's a little tricky with kids, but I can't express it better than others already have.

My son is 11, and so far all he's shot is BB guns. I read about people whose 8-year-old kids took a deer with a .243, and it always makes me nervous. Save the flames, I'm just talking about my kid, and that's all he was ready for. This year, for the first time, he's actually expressing some interest in shooting. So if he can avoid sweeping my abdomen (which he did last year with the BB rifle, which put an end to his shooting), he will shoot pellets and maybe even a .22. In a year or two, maybe he'll be ready to try a .22 handgun. We'll see. This is fun for me, but I won't rush it until he's ready.
 
Spot, sounds good. What about your daughter, has she seen it yet? What was her reaction? So how long 'till the BB gun? How did your wife like the idea of letting the children in on the guns? I know a guy who has 5 kids ranging from 4 to 17 and his wife still won't let him let any of the kids know he has guns (he has an SKS and a Daewoo 9mm pistol). She got really nervous one day when we were talking about hitting the range sometime, because we were talking too loud and the kids were nearby. When I first saw this thread I was worried that you might end up in the same situation, I'm glad you didn't.
 
I've got two boys, 10 and 5.
Both my kids know they can ask to see daddy's guns any time they want to. Even if daddy just got off work at 7:00 am, if they meet me at the door and ask, "Daddy, can I see your gun?" I unload the gun, hand it to them, make sure they know not to point it at someone else, the dog, the kitty etc, after about a minute, they get bored and hand it back to me with "Ok, thanks Dad." I have told them, ANY time you want to look at one of my guns, just ASK. The only rule is that I'm there. I once tested them. Made sure a revolver was unloaded and left it laying on the coffee table where I could watch it. Within 2 minutes, the older one, I think he was 6, came up to me and said, "Hey dad, theres a gun laying on the coffee table" And then went back to TV. No excitement, no stress, nothing. Both have been to the range, the older one has shot some .22's.
 
My daughter couldn't care any less about it. Tried the same thing with her as with my son. She politely stepped around the rifle and continued to nag me about something trivial. So I took the time to explain the rules to her and she seems pretty cool with it.

My wife is more of an irresponsible baby than my kids. She doesn't want to touch the SKS, saying that it's "Scarey". So be it. (Wait, I didn't even mention the grenade launcher.....hmmmm)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top