I think you've done a GREAT job!
My children are exposed to firearms almost daily and have a working, fluent understanding of the "4 rules" of gun safety.
I shoot competitively and am the Match Director for my IDPA club as well as actively enjoying other shooting disciplines. There is almost constant gun cleaning, ammo reloading, match preparation, and stage design going on at my house. My kids are very interested in what I do and are certainly not immune to the "gun fascination" that all kids seem to have.
I can't possibly, and would not ever try to, tell them that guns are "off-limits" to them. Instead, I've given them access to firearms in order to assuage their curiosity and educate them, under safe and controlled conditions of my choosing.
We do not purchase toy guns (though I had them growing up and I always was perfectly clear about the difference -- beyond question) but the kids find a way -- and several thousand sticks and scraps of wood have been pressed into service as such. (My 7 year old daughter whittled, painted, wrapped up, and gave to my 4 year old son a plywood "revolver" for Christmas this year.
) No horseplay or gross violations of the safety rules are EVER tolerated with these improvised weapons -- but the funny thing is that they really DON'T play with them that way. They'll "shoot" deer for "food" and they love setting up mock courses of fire and holding "matches." But they don't watch television or violent movies and have never hear nor seen people misusing firearms that way. In fact, the thousands of shooters they've met and watched have been almost universally match shooters exercising the highest level of safety precautions you're likely to find anywhere. And it shows in how they play.
Both of my older kids began shooting (with a LOT of help and hands-on guidance) at age 3. For my daughter, that included a .45 ACP 1911 and 7.62 carbine. At 7, my daughter can handle a .44 Special revolver (almost) unassisted. But (see post:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=5539478&postcount=4) even now I am still extremely "hands-on" in my training. Just because kids understand and can quote the safety rules doesn't mean that it is reasonable or fair to expect them to follow them perfectly and without lapses in judgment. They're still just kids and you have to create a safety net that catches and corrects their slips without harming anyone.
The amount and type of shooting practice is also completely kid-directed. I intend to never push them to fire one more round than their interested in shooting or anything larger than they are comfortable with. I had moments of "gun shyness" as a scrawny kid trained with inappropriately powerful weapons and I don't want my kids to have to work through such difficulties. My daughter loves the noise and recoil of every gun she's ever tried to shoot. My (middle) son loves .22s and most pistols but doesn't care for the high-velocity concussion of rifle fire. So their exposures to live fire have been very different so far in order to play to their sensitivities and strengths.
In the end, I don't know if my kids will ever have a long term interest in the shooting sports, or if they'll be great hunters or marksmen. That's entirely up to them, though of course I will give them every advantage they desire if they want to work towards those goals. I can ensure, however, that they will know what to do in any gun-related situation they will encounter and can be very sure that they will make good choices.
-Sam
