Many children are interested in the personal and professional crafts of their parents. Why wouldn’t they be? If it’s fun for their role models, perhaps there’s a role for them in everything. Shooting in particular is a fascinating skill that challenges children to be disciplined and responsible. Formal range time is an excellent way to introduce kids to the adult world and stand up critical learning pillars: attention, focus, retention and repetition to name a few.
The core message at the center of Avery Skipalis’ beautiful range day with her son is to limit distractions. These hobgoblins can manifest in obvious forms – from adjacent shooters, weather conditions to flighty memories—I forgot the staple gun again; but their subtler cousins, particularly for kids, reside in the forgettable factors, such as smaller bodies, attention spans and definitions of safety and risk.
Avery carefully pre-plans for smaller hands, ears, eyes and the shooting experience of her son. Above all she rehearses the basics of firearms safety and reinforces this with safe gun manipulation like every good veteran and shooter ought practice. Avery utilizes a lighter firearm and child-specific eye protection, just to name a few of the measures that can mean the difference between discouragement and fun.
Perhaps the days of .30-caliber initiatory rounds and even larger slugs and shot are of the past, but maybe this is a turning of the tides for the better as more shooters coalesce and their audience becomes younger. Range time can (easily) be fun, rewarding and a memorable bonding experience, especially under the condition that we eliminate as many distractions as possible for our young shooters and our connections with them. -IBR
Avery explains why she prefers a .22, and especially the GLOCK, for this time on the range: “The GLOCK 44 delivers manageable recoil. In fact, some say that this pistol looks as if it has zero recoil. Although it does have recoil, I have to say that it was a delight to shoot the GLOCK 44 compared to shooting firearms with larger calibers. With children, it makes for a better range and shooting experience for them to not have to deal with a firearm with a lot of recoil.” Since recoil is one of the reasons that people fear shooting guns, it makes sense to start new shooters on a lower recoil model.
This is just one of a myriad of addressed considerations on how to make the range a fun and safe environment for kids. View the original post here. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the NSSF’s important program, Project ChildSafe.
The Women's Outdoor News, aka The WON, features news, reviews and stories about women who are shooting, hunting, fishing and actively engaging in outdoor adventure. This publication is for women, by women. View all posts by The WON
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