Thinking of taking my 4yo shooting

[camper4lyfe]

My life has been kind of crazy lately, and focused on the kids and what the wife wants to do, while "ignoring" what I want to do. I talked with my wife about it and she sees and realizes it. I told her I wanted to get some gun time in, and I got to thinking that maybe I'd take my 4 year old with me since he's ALL ABOUT being outside and guns (though he doesn't fully understand them) and shooting and everything. I had asked my dad if he wanted to join us, but he has other things going on, so now I'm on the fence about whether I should solo this with him, or just go by myself.

I'd really like to make it a good learning experience for him, and I don't want to scare him, and I don't want to scare him to the point that it detracts from what I'm trying to accomplish in doing something for myself.

If (well, most likely when) I take him, any suggestions on how to make it a memorable experience rather than one he'd like to forget? I was thinking about picking up a case of clays as reactive targets, as well as letting him pull the trigger on the .22. I'll probably bring my bb gun as well, and possible let him shoot it himself. Since opening day is next weekend, I also figured that I should throw some slugs through the ol' 870 to make sure that's still good to go, but my fear with that one is the noise. Though he does have headphones, so I THINK he'll be ok. I was also contemplating taking my AR and my .22-250 to play around with sighting in new scopes.

I realize that my plan is pretty intense with trying to balance the shooting and keeping a 4 year old interested, but right now I'm just spit balling everything.

[thughes]

Schedule two separate outings, there's no way you're going to relax enough to enjoy running slugs through the SG or playing with the rifles while worrying about the boy.

[camper4lyfe]

Schedule two separate outings, there's no way you're going to relax enough to enjoy running slugs through the SG or playing with the rifles while worrying about the boy.

I can't say I enjoy running slugs through it anyway lol. Those mf'ers hurt!

[big flash]

imho, i'm with thughes. these are two separate outings. simplify your outing with your boy, bb gun and maybe 22. definitely reactive targets, like pop cans with the bbgun. do you guys already shoot nerf at targets at home, i can't remember?

my daughter is 4 1/2 but i have not yet taken her out to the range to shoot. she has watched us shoot from safety though. so i can't give any first hand advice in that sense yet. BUT i have taken a lot of first time kids to the range, like 12 year olds (non-scouting sanctioned scout like trips : )

[big flash]

My life has been kind of crazy lately, and focused on the kids and what the wife wants to do, while "ignoring" what I want to do.

don't you run all the time? Peshitta, that's way more 'me time' than i get lol

[camper4lyfe]

imho, i'm with thughes. these are two separate outings. simplify your outing with your boy, bb gun and maybe 22. definitely reactive targets, like pop cans with the bbgun. do you guys already shoot nerf at targets at home, i can't remember?

my daughter is 4 1/2 but i have not yet taken her out to the range to shoot. she has watched us shoot from safety though. so i can't give any first hand advice in that sense yet. BUT i have taken a lot of first time kids to the range, like 12 year olds (non-scouting sanctioned scout like trips : )

He doesn't have any nerfs yet, but he is getting one for Christmas. It'll be his to use as if it were a real gun so that we can teach him safe use on his own.

The only thing he's shot to this point is my paintball marker, and that was with me holding it and him pulling the trigger.

[camper4lyfe]

don't you run all the time? Peshitta, that's way more 'me time' than i get lol

Most of my runs are actually on my lunch during the week. I get one run on the weekends, but that's typically either at the ass crack of dawn before everyone's awake, or at nap time. Yeah, it's something, but there's a LOT of things I've put on hold as a parent.

[big flash]

i'm not of the school of thought where i have my daughter treat her nerf like a real gun, we shoot each other. and she shoots the neighborhood boys. as long as the target is playing the same game. she better not shoot mom doing the dishes anyway

i understand taking that stance though where you treat it like a real gun, and it certainly simplifies things at that age. i'm trying to teach her the difference between the real ones and fake ones. so far so good, we'll see though.

some of my favorite young memories are of nerf wars with my cousins, i just personally can't deny her that opportunity.
she got me good last night, she said "dad, is that big bird outside?" and when i turned around, she smoked me with her nerf bow and arrow dart, right in the butt from across the living room. the absolute highlight of my day.

[camper4lyfe]

i'm not of the school of thought where i have my daughter treat her nerf like a real gun, we shoot each other. and she shoots the neighborhood boys. as long as the target is playing the same game. she better not shoot mom doing the dishes anyway

i understand taking that stance though where you treat it like a real gun, and it certainly simplifies things at that age. i'm trying to teach her the difference between the real ones and fake ones. so far so good, we'll see though.

some of my favorite young memories are of nerf wars with my cousins, i just personally can't deny her that opportunity.
she got me good last night, she said "dad, is that big bird outside?" and when i turned around, she smoked me with her nerf bow and arrow dart, right in the butt from across the living room. the absolute highlight of my day.

Yeah, the treating a nerf as a real gun was my wife's idea, and there's no changing it. It actually annoys me, but it's a losing battle on my end. Once he can learn the difference between toy and real, then we'll start allowing the nerf wars and such.

The other side of it is that with a younger brother that's nearly a twin, but mentally not where he is yet, we have to draw the line. It sucks for the older one sometimes because he'll have to wait for his younger brother to be ready as well, and I think this is a case of that right now.

[big flash]

Most of my runs are actually on my lunch during the week. I get one run on the weekends, but that's typically either at the ass crack of dawn before everyone's awake, or at nap time. Yeah, it's something, but there's a LOT of things I've put on hold as a parent.

i hear ya, i had a similar conversation with my wife last spring. i don't see any friends ever, never go shoot, barely hunt, etc. it's not that she doesn't let me, but i love spending time with the fam too. i'll chose a hay ride and picking pumpkins with my 4yo over going bow hunting. and i work a lot. however, you have to do the other stuff sometimes too. it's a tough balance. so they surprised me with a firing pin membership for fathers day. it meant so much. i don't get to go every week, but i'm going more often. making it a point to get out and let some rounds rip, and it has been great to get some balance.

[camper4lyfe]

i hear ya, i had a similar conversation with my wife last spring. i don't see any friends ever, never go shoot, barely hunt, etc. it's not that she doesn't let me, but i love spending time with the fam too. i'll chose a hay ride and picking pumpkins with my 4yo over going bow hunting. and i work a lot. however, you have to do the other stuff sometimes too. it's a tough balance. so they surprised me with a firing pin membership for fathers day. it meant so much. i don't get to go every week, but i'm going more often. making it a point to get out and let some rounds rip, and it has been great to get some balance.

It's a double edge sword, for sure. I love my family, and my time with them, but there are times that I find myself being with them wishing I was doing something else. Then, when I'm doing that something else, all I can think about is being back home with them. I can't win! I think that's why I'm leaning more toward taking my oldest with me this weekend. It's a little of both worlds.

My biggest struggle right now is with hunting. I'm gone for an entire weekend, by myself, and left with a LOT of time to think. It's made worse by the fact that I haven't seen, let alone harvested, a deer since BEFORE my oldest was born. Some of that is the land I hunt. Some of it is just the extremely limited time I get to spend in the woods. I know (no, really it's just hope) that it'll get better when they're older and off doing their own thing too.

[WARFAB]

It's a bit therapeutic to hear I'm not the only one who struggles with some of this stuff. My wife is always asking me "do you want to do 'X' together tonight?" I've started asking her to phrase it differently, because I always WANT to do stuff with her instead of the responsible stuff I should be doing. So yes, "I WANT to do 'X', but I really need to work on Y, Z, and........"

[camper4lyfe]

It's a bit therapeutic to hear I'm not the only one who struggles with some of this stuff. My wife is always asking me "do you want to do 'X' together tonight?" I've started asking her to phrase it differently, because I always WANT to do stuff with her instead of the responsible stuff I should be doing. So yes, "I WANT to do 'X', but I really need to work on Y, Z, and........"

Oh yeah, let's not even get started on the laundry list of stuff that needs to get done around the house that there's never time or money for, yet someone's always on my ass "why isn't this done?"

[WARFAB]

Suddenly I'm reminded: have we scheduled an AA meeting for November yet?

[thughes]

Not yet.....