Why Does…

Recently, I accompanied a friend and his 7-year-old son to Ben Avery range. Giving my peripheral vision the task of watching for the inevitable gun sweep by the child, I merrily punched paper with a .22.

In ten minutes I was sweeped several times and observed the tirades the father heaped upon the child before being banished to the gravel behind the shooting line. I allowed several minutes for the sins of the day to subside and called the little one to my side. Eye contact with my friend gave me permission to work with this raw little shooter.

Sitting the child down, I positioned myself across the bench and explained what I wanted him to do. Reaching into my bag of nursing tricks, yes I’m pediatric RN, I slowly explained each step as we went along. Once each step was mastered and the shot was performed correctly, we moved on. The basics of sight alignment, then trigger pull and finally rudimentary breath control were demonstrated. All shots were done on the biggest target available at the range, set out at 20 yards.

Right now, you are undoubtedly wondering why I even bother to share this with you. We all have spent time that is most enjoyable teaching someone to shoot. The joy of opening our collective sport and including another person into the world of shooting and safe handling gives memories to put a smile on one’s face.

To teach a child requires communication that is concrete and specific to each step. Children cannot conceive the abstract. "Just put the front sight between the notch in the rear sight" will be lost on a child. Adults easily forget this concept of concrete thinking.

Okay, why am I bothering you with this? As we were loading up the guns, this little one thanked me and asked, "Why does my daddy get so mad at me when we go shooting?"

Dean De Boer
Field Writer