Allot of your replies strike home. I do take it to our public officials who hide behind some other "concerned parent" who dictates policy. My younger daughter is not aloud peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because it MIGHT get passed on to an allergic child. The same for chocolate chip cookies as the chips are made in the same factory. Ludicrous, but true.
Sending my child top school bloody, was extreme, but the entire "girls shouldn't learn to shoot", "she's too young", and "you're are raising your kids to be violent" got old real fast. I wanted to send a message that they couldn't miss. When they called my first response was "Don't you think a restroom (where I instructed her to go first off upon arriving) would be a better place to wash her hands (the only part with a trace of anything)?"
My kids are not perfect. For all my oldest's booksmarts she lacks common sense, and my other is the reverse. We have since preschool wanted the younger held back and they refuse saying it is demeaning. Sorry, but it's better done now (or then) than later or letting her discover that the rest of the world doesn't care to baby her through.
My kids love to shoot, and I let them. I dole out the ammo, and they treat it like something precious to be well spent. My oldest just got a box of .410 shells of her own to keep in her room in her rack locked up with a key she had a copy of. She was so proud to graduate to that point. The younger one will be in the same boat probably by the time I return from Afghanistan. It is a reward for showing responsibility that no other thing can equal. I love it when she comes in "daddy there's a groundhog out back, can I have a bullet?"
What bothers me is how much interference I get when my kids learn more from me than the schools about life. My older one can ID most any type of rock and say how it came to be. My younger knows more local plants than her teachers. They can both be counted on to help another child when others ignore them. Sometimes to extremes.
Now they are sleeping after rolling 2 cords of unsplit firewood out of the woods (down hill). We worked hard, but with my AR out there waiting for the first groundhog of the year they spent as much time watching the far end of the fields as rolling. I get to shoot it if they slack and the better behaved one gets to take the shot if they are good. We are all sore, but got time outside together that the school thinks is too much effort for young children. With my younger daughter having broke her arm I can't wait till she shows off how she can roll things with her foot. She just refused to be left out of some of it though mostly she kept me in gas and oil and all of us supplied with drinks. Child abuse I am sure.
If this is bad, imagine in two years when my boy hits the school system. He is too young to shot right now, but it won't be long. He has his own earmuffs and loves to watch and has been out bow hunting with me and his biggest sister.
Oh and this caused a huge fuss when my oldest brought it in to show her friends. Her first deer, Stalked while feeding and shot from 20yds. It went another 20yds slammed into a tree and died. She is unfortunately quite honest in describing the experience, "It looked like a red spray-paint can spraying out" to describe the blood as it ran, and "I shot a dog" referring to its size
As the old Dylan song goes "The times they are a-changin" and we have to aim them in the correct direction with the next generation and what they learn.
