Activities with Teens - Shooting!

Submitted by eric on Tue, 18/11/2008 - 8:53am.

Being a father and thinking of new activities to do with my 3 teenagers I tend to think like a man! I find it a lot easier to think of things to do with my son (Christian), like going fishing in cold stormy weather.

A couple of weeks ago I took Christian Small-Bore shooting, at a local shooting range, that holds open club nights for guests to attend.

Well it took a little planning; I had to ensure I felt he was old enough, so I waiting till he turned 14, this was going to be Christians very first time shooting any gun.
For myself I had to be sure that everyone was going to be ok about me taking Christian shooting.

I think I made a bigger deal out of it than it needed to be, as long as I was going to be with him every step of the way, it was going to be ok with everyone else

I guess for myself it was more about my past as I had been shooting from 8 years old, not because my parents supported it (I didn’t even have toy gun) but my friends had air rifles and their fathers had rifles and shotguns. When I was old enough, I did what my father said not to do, which was join the ARMY, where I was trained to shoot a range of weapons, safely and with purpose.
My parents still believe "guns are dangerous."

What was Christian’s first experience with a gun like? He was very excited and told me he his body was shaking from excitement (I think it was the adrenaline), It was great to witness; I had completely forgotten what it was light to shoot for the first time.
When it came to shooting, he did very well he was controlled and took his time, like a seasoned veteran. For people who know about Small Bore scores his lowest 10 shot score is 83 and I think his best has been 89 points so far. I’m such a proud father!
To sum up the experience Christian LOVED IT!!!

Last night I took Christian and his sisters (Nastassja and Amber) shooting, they weren’t as excited about it as Christian was on his first time, they were a little apprehensive. Which I guess is natural.
Amber is a year younger than Christian, but I felt Small-Bore was not that big a deal and the environment was very safe and controlled that it was ok for her to have a go.
Nastassja is 15 and I wanted her to try something new

I arranged for a coach for each of the kids, made sure they were all near each other. Nastassja and Ambers first round was impressive for their very first time (63 and 53 points respectfully) and they appeared pretty relaxed and laid back about it all.
On their second round they had clearly relaxed more, and made huge improvements and improved their scores by 20 points each, Amber shot 2 10.1s (bulls eyes)!!!

To sum up last night; Christian loves it, Nastassja was happy to had given it a go, but happy to leave it and Amber was really enjoyed it and wants to do it again
Which we will

I encourage to give Small-Bore shooting ago, contact your local club and see if they do an open club night, the cost is low and to see your kids try something for the first time is priceless.
"Guns are not dangerous, people only make them dangerous!"

I have no idea about activities that are a bit more girly??? Any advice will be appreciated.

Warm Regards

Eric

for your information my highest score was during Christians first time, (my second time on Small-Bore) I shot 95.1. Last night Christian shot better than I did as we both shot scores in the 80s

Thank you to John and Neil for looking after us and a great night!