Took my 7 Y.O. daughter shooting..... Need some help!

[Nikon Shooter]

Hello all!

I bought my seven year old daughter a pink stocked, stainless bbl crickett for x-mas (it has GOT to be the ugliest firearm ever manufactured... lol) and today was the first opportunity I have had to take her out shooting. We have spent a lot of time since x-mas discussing the gun, and the proper handling of it, and I was comfortable taking her today...

So, we get to the place where we are going to shoot, go through everything one more time, and finally let her throw some lead at a few cans... She done okay (hit one can... lol) but had a BIG problem closing her left eye and looking through the site with her right.... She is DEFINITELY right handed, but for some reason closing that left eye posed a problem for her. There were a few other issues with keeping the stock firmly against her shoulder, and her cheek firmly on the stock, but I can/did deal with those issues.... The problem I could not compensate for was the issue with her keeping the left eye closed....

It seems to be a real problem (one of which we will eventually overcome.... somehow) but I am not sure what to do.... When one eye closes, the other one wants to do the same, or at the very least, the other (right eye) squints REALLY bad.

Perhaps blinding her left eye by covering her shooting glasses with tape or some other means may help???

Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Third_Rail]

Why have her close her other eye?

Plenty of folks shoot very well with both eyes open.

 

[gezzer]

Why make her close her left eye? It is better to shoot with both eyes open. I feel closing the non-aiming eye is a bad habit. Make it easy for her so she doen't get discouraged.

 

[ClarkEMyers]

I'd go with a red dot sight myself.

I'd go with a red dot sight myself. There is an argument that both eyes should be open the same and shoot with the dominant eye - if cross dominant shoot with the dominant eye as required. There have been offset scope mounts to shoot right handed and left eyed and other such for older shooters.

Some say that keeping the light the same for both eyes is better if you can do it, so smearing Vaseline or something translucent on the off eye glass is better than tape.

I took the original post to mean that there was an eye dominance problem such that getting a sight picture using the right eye with both eyes open was difficult. It is universally true (to a greater or lesser extent) that eyes will squint together. For this reason shooting with both eyes wide open is preferred. FREX there are lots of blinder tools as part of the eyeglass frames (with as many adjustments as their rifle stocks) used by International shooters. If the girl CAN shoot with both eyes open she should be encouraged not discouraged. If not well.....

 

[Spot77]

Even though she's right handed, she may have a propensity to do certain things left handed.

I'm right handed, but I dribble a basketball left handed (can't do it right handed if I try), bat left handed. and for the longest time, kept the computer mouse on the left side of the screen.


Working on shooting with my 8 year old daughter now. Isn't life great?

 

[jefnvk]

I can't really close my left eye either. Shoot with both eyes open.

 

[Nikon Shooter]

Spot,

Good luck with your daughter, and YES, life certainly is grand (attached is a picture to prove it!)

Being a stubborn ole shooter, I never considered "shooting with both eyes open". Perhaps we will try it next time we go out.... Like I said, this is a minor flaw Dad is determined to overcome..... Somehow! lol

 

[Dienekes]

The photo shows that you are certainly doing something *right*. Congratulations!!!

I started my daughter out at about that age, although there weren't too many suitable rifles at the time. I had to shorten the stock and find a proper aperture rear sight. When I got to refinishing the wood she asked me if I could do it up in desert camo (chocolate chip pattern). I managed to do it and she thought that was the coolest thing around. She turned into my shooting buddy and a few years ago went down to Gunsite and had a blast with her Glock 19. I hope you two have many good times together on the range.

The suggestion of blocking the left lens of the glasses may well help; choose your preferred way. With time she may have less and less trouble with the sympathetic squint on the other eye, and come to be able to shoot with both eyes open relatively easily. These things take a little time.

Reactive targets are good. Once my kids proved they could do okay on paper, I would put out a steel swinging rabbit target for them to work on. They like them for the same reason we do--if you do it right something happens.

(My daughter in law wants a pink pistol but that is a little harder to pull off. I haven't given up, though.)

 

[Lonestar.45]

My dad is the same way. He is right handed, but left-eye dominant. When he got into the Marine Corps in '66, they discovered this in boot camp, and made him learn to shoot left handed. He's shot left handed ever since, and is one of the best shots I know, even now.

Your daughter is probably left-eye dominant. You may want to teach her to shoot left handed.

 

[mustanger98]

Cross-dominant like that is why I shoot rifles left handed. I discovered I couldn't close my left eye to shoot when I was 9 years old and working with a Red Ryder. My Daddy tried to convert me to right-handed the whole time I was growing up but I couldn't get the hang of it. Anyway, we figured out the cross-dominant deal, then I quit closing my right eye and I've found it's a lot easier to relax and shoot better- I'm putting my energy into sight alignment, breathing, and trigger squeeze instead of putting that same energy into trying to close my left eye. My accuracy improved a lot when I started shooting that way. Your daughter may have the same situation or one similar going on.

Something I thought of- the rear sight on the Crickett .22's; you may want to look into fitting a better one on it. Might help the accuracy as the one from the factory (which is just a bent peice of metal) don't seem to have much adjustment if any.

 

[Remander]

You might want to check that eye dominance thing. I heard a very experienced shooting instructor say that females are much more likely to be cross dominant (right-handed; left eye dominant, or vice versa) than males.

Here is a test I found online:

Even though you use both eyes as you see the world everyday, everyone has a dominant eye — one that works harder than the other. To figure out which eye is dominant for you, try this simple test.

1. Find something to use as a target on a wall about 10 feet away from you. You can use almost anything as an object to focus on.
2. With BOTH eyes open, stick out your arm with your elbow extended and your thumb up.
3. Place your thumb so it appears to cover your target. Ideally, the focused object should be something that your thumb can cover.
4. Now, close your left eye then your right eye while watching your target.

Your target will be visible beside your thumb through one eye and hidden by your thumb through the other eye.

The eye that sees the thumb covering the target is your dominant eye.

Here is another similar test at this link. The poster says that even small children should be able to perform the simple test.


If your daughter is left eye dominant, she may want to try shooting left handed and see if she can get comfortable with it.

Good luck!

 

[Phantom Warrior]

I had the same problem when I was her age. I THINK I am actually left-eye dominant but I've never really figured it out. I do know that I just started shooting left-handed and have never had a problems since (even though I am normally right-handed). I actually like it because it allows me to use my strong hand to support the weight of the gun, esp for things where speed is important, like shooting clays. YMMV...

 

[Len_in_Phoenix]

I've run into the same issue with my daughter and several kids in my shotgun class. The quickest solution is to place a piece of tape (or a smear of chapstick) on her glasses.

I've got a long dissertation (to long to post here) about cross-dominant vision on my blog if anyone is interested.......


Len in PHoenix

 

[Bullet]

Nikon Shooter

I think your daughter is really lucky to have you for a parent. Keep up the good work.

 

[Len_in_Phoenix]

"Girls rifles" seem to be getting more popular.....here is my daughter with hers:


Len in PHoenix

 

[landon74]

That's a great pic Nikon, it looks she loves her little pink rifle. With any luck you'll have a shooting buddy for the rest of your life.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Went through this with my 7 year old son. I think that that age it just takes some training to get good muscle control.

I got a pair of shooting glasses and blacked out one lens. This way he is shooting with both eyes open, but only sees anything out of one eye. This way he gets used to the one eye open sight picture, but doesn't have to fight his muscles to close the other eye. As he gets older and practices more he is getting there. He's 9 now and not using this anymore, he's closing the eye just fine.

 

[Powderman]

Check out Champion's Choice. These folks sell a number of good shooting products; I use an eye occluder that clips onto my glasses and flips up out of the way when I am not shooting. Also, consider the use of blinders--panels that slide onto the earpieces of the glasses which block the peripherial vision. This allows you to concentrate on the target.

 

[mack69]

Re:

Congrats on your daughters intro to shooting. I can't wait for mine (she's gonna be 5 this year) to get there too. I am one of those who shoots with both eyes open. From a defensive position it is a good thing as your peripheral vision is still in use. Wierd thing happened last week and I mentioned it here when I took my brother shooting for the first time. He is a right hander and shot all the handguns righty. However...he had great difficulty shooting my rifles righty, just couldn't get comfortable. Finally he tried shooting lefty....boom no problem and on target.....I think from all the responses I got on that one that he may be left eye dominant and tht is why he couldn't shoot the rifle righty. With the handguns it wasn't an issue. Good luck...Congrats again.....mack

 

[ClarkEMyers]

Some shooters will mount a blinder on the sight too

See e.g. the cover of the current Gun Week showing what amounts to a 3X5 card mounted to the rear sight to block the off eye. I suppose it pretty much requires a peep or a scope though.

 

[Chipperman]

Holy Cow!!

I think you forgot to put "PINK" in all caps.
That rifle jumped out of the screen and poked me between the eyes.
Maybe she's squinting because the color is blinding her- LOL.

If she can't get a good sight picture with both eyes open, have her try shooting left handed to see if there is a difference. If that still does not work, then have her cover the Left eye.

 

[larryw]

I work with a group that teaches about 350 kids per year to shoot. Been doing it for several years. My first thought when reading your post was "cross eye dominance" (right handed, left eye dominant).

Have her stand facing you. Arms straight out in front. Both eyes open. Have her put her fingers together, thumbs straight out, place one hand over the other, looking through small gap at web of hands so she's looking at you, and you only see one eye. You see her left eye, right?

Our experience has shown that kids like this, about 10-15% of the population, shoot much better when shooting to the dominant eye/weak hand side. In her case, that means shooting left handed.

 

[mustanger98]

mack69 wrote:

...when I took my brother shooting for the first time. He is a right hander and shot all the handguns righty. However...he had great difficulty shooting my rifles righty, just couldn't get comfortable. Finally he tried shooting lefty....boom no problem and on target.....I think from all the responses I got on that one that he may be left eye dominant and tht is why he couldn't shoot the rifle righty. With the handguns it wasn't an issue.

That's what I'm talking about. I wonder, since my own experience is like that, just how many cross-dominant people their are shooting guns. And to make it work, some of us have to be willing to try different techniques and see what works for each of us. That's the thing about individuals- no one technique works in every case.

Case in point: my sister is cross-dominant like I am. The difference between her and me is she never would try to shoot left handed. She said it was because it wasn't comfortable to her. But, she can shoot a 2" .38spl and hit tight at defensive distances. At longer ranges- 40 to 50 yards- with the same gun, she's still hitting.

This deal about blacking the lense or smearing chapstick on it; I've seen a lot of that kind of stuff. It works from the bench or on the skeet range. I know one guy in my club who stuck a flip-flop on his scope to block his left eye's view of the target and he shoots sillouette that way. But for practical shooting in just an all-around deal, I'd advise going left handed first and see if that works.

 

[Ivy Mike]

My suggestion would be to have her try and shoot lefty.

When my dad was teaching me to shoot, he had me shoulder it on the right side (as I am right handed) and I started shooting. I was having trouble hitting targets consistently (same thing your daughter was doing)
On a whim, he had me shoulder it on the left and was surprised when I got much better in a hurry.
To this day, I still do better shooting left handed(I'm right handed, but left eye dominant) with a new gun (hand or long) until I get some practice in with it. I'm actually pretty proud of myself that I can shoot all my firearms from either side with good results.

I really have to work at it though. When I try to keep both eyes open shooting righty, my eyes tend to cross and I have to break my cheek weld (long guns) and then reshoulder to get them to straighten out. This isn't a problem, however, when I shoot lefty.

 

[dfaugh]

I grew up seriously confused

about this left/right thing....I was/am ambidextrous, and to this day I do some things with my left hand and others with my right. When I first started shooting/archery, I wanted to do it left handed (even though I write with my right hand), as this felt natural to me. Never did figure out which eye was dominant....But any way, due to the scarcity of left handed bows and firearms, I eventually "learned" to do both right-handed, and still do today. And I have to close my left eye when I shoot...I quess what I'm saying is, you CAN overcome these problems with practice...But you might try letting her try left handed, see if it works any better....