Nightmares

[NoJoke]

My wife and I don't feel our 8yo son is quite ready to be introduced to the world of shooting quite yet.
Yesterday, I was watching a gun show on TV (some tactical shooting show) and they were talking about a new Ruger and were test firing it.

He walked in on me watching the show and caught the tail end of it....a couple of minutes.

This morning he reported having a nightmare, saying that he dreamed that someone was chasing his friends and shooting them then turned and shot him dead.

I explained to him that a tool/weapon is to be thought of the same way karate is taught (he takes karate). Just because someone CAN hurt another doesn't mean they should.

I'm concerned....

[freonr22]

take him shooting, and teach him, end the fear

[liketoshoot]

^^this now, start with a 22 at 8yo he does understand more then you think

[Coded-Dude]

I started out shooting my dads shotguns around that age as well. Although getting him familiar with guns may not immediately curb his fears, he will at least have a better understanding of firearms.

[Elsinore]

I started both my boys with airsoft at age 5 and worked up from there. It is important to teach them respect with any tool.

[toadman]

Kid's will have nightmares about different things till their early teens. Not all the time, & with less frequency as they get older. My daughter had nightmares about ghosts, Disney characters, creatures in the closet, Vampires, us dying, her dying. Now that she's 18 & in college I'm the one having nightmares about drugs, pregancy, bad boyfriends, accidents. Hey what are gonna do?

[stix213]

I have nightmares involving guns all the time. They always involve one of two scenarios. Either the gun I am holding is unloaded, or I do not have the strength to pull the trigger when needed. Not sure what that all means.

[Flyliner]

My 2 year old has nightmares about a gorilla living behind the curtains.

Must be from that animatronic gorilla they have out infront of a local restaurant.

We got a Dr. Seus type book all about monkies and now he is not afraid of the gorilla behind the curtains anymore.

He sure is starting to get nervous about the animatronic alligator now though. Guess we got another book purchase coming up.

[sd_shooter]

I take my kids shooting all the time, and they don't have bad dreams.

We also watch "Impossible Shots", and they love it.

However the show "Best Defense" is immediately after Impossible Shots, and it's not good for them - the show depicts very realistic emergency scenarios for example a bad guy breaking into a house and beating the owner with a baseball bat. Or cops shooting a guy who puts his hand into his pocket even after they said "hands up!" They definitely get spooked and start hearing noises after dark, so I don't let them watch it.

So it's not the shooting or guns per se, it's how the identify with a particular scenario. Don't let your kids watch scary TV or play scary games while they are little...

[Framer]

Some of the nightmares might be caused by anxiety from playing with friends. I know that happens with my kids sometimes.

In our house, we don't allow our boys to shoot at "people" during pretend play, only targets and 'bad robots'. I want them to understand and respect life. I want them to know that when they shoot at something living, they are doing so with an intent to end a life. Those were the rules in my house when I was growing up. It had a positive lasting effect on me, so I stuck with it. (At daycare, they bend the rules liberally.)

We've found that educating them and removing the mystery has the best results with nightmares. It sounds like you're already talking to him and that's a good thing. Supervised shooting of a .22 or BB gun might help too. I know how curious my boys are at 3 and 6 y/o. I could hardly wait until my wife gave me the go ahead to buy them a BB Gun for Christmas. It gives me a chance to spend quality time with them and teach them how to respect firearms. When we're done, the BB Gun gets locked up with the rest. I want them to understand that we treat all guns the same respect regardless of what comes out of the barrel.

[j1133s]

My wife and I don't feel our 8yo son is quite ready to be introduced to the world of shooting quite yet.
Yesterday, I was watching a gun show on TV (some tactical shooting show) and they were talking about a new Ruger and were test firing it.

He walked in on me watching the show and caught the tail end of it....a couple of minutes.

This morning he reported having a nightmare, saying that he dreamed that someone was chasing his friends and shooting them then turned and shot him dead.

I explained to him that a tool/weapon is to be thought of the same way karate is taught (he takes karate). Just because someone CAN hurt another doesn't mean they should.

I'm concerned....

Hey, it's only a dream. Not a big deal. But just for fun, watch a show about knives next time w/ your kid and see if he'll dream about getting stabbed.

On the serious side, I agree w/ you, 8 yr old is to young to be introduced to shooting.

[xr650r]

Guns fascinate kids.

Take him shooting, drill him with the safety aspects and responsibilities.

Then make sure he's deeply involved with the cleaning process. (Part of the responsibility )

Remove the fear and mystery.

[NoJoke]

Ironically, on our last camping trip, I took some of my pellet handguns and long guns. We also had bows and arrows.

He wanted nothing to do with the guns and had a great time w/ the arrows. He did shoot a few times, just wasn't into it as much as the arrows.

[forgiven]

Shake that silly fear out of him. Just kidding. Go slow with him but be prepared if he never takes to it. Could never get my youngest son to take to hunting, but I've gotten over it.

[VegasND]

8 years old too young? Times have certainly changed.

I was given my first rifle at 8 -- and some of my friends got one within the next year or 2. Most of us were taken shooting by 8 as well.