Have you ever tested your kids to see how they’d hold up to either peer pressure or their own temptations whenever it comes to unprotected firearms? With all the guns in my house, my family, and within our circle of friends I wanted to have an idea of how well my kiddos have taken to the teaching I’ve preached so far.
The details behind this are as follows: my son is a young 5 and my daughter is a young 3. They’re both very exposed to firearms, but the guns are always secured appropriately and handled appropriately when out. My son, Leevi, is a hunting fanatic. He loves sitting in a box with me for hours watching deer. Jolee will be no different. Tonight my wife and I took one of my newer revolvers out of the cabinet and both double verified it to be unloaded and safetied. We sat the gun on the kitchen table then I had her FaceTime my phone which I propped up and hid in the corner of the dining room. Meanwhile my kids were watching TV in the living room.
We hid upstairs and the test was on. She hollered down the stairs for Leevi and Jolee to start cleaning off the table. Miraculously they both listened and ran into the kitchen. They both grabbed their plates and threw them into the sink. My 3 year old dashes back into the living room and my 5 year old hollers “Dad you’ve got a gun on the table” and then he goes back to the living room. He thinks I’m outside.
About a minute later my wife hollers back down the stairs for Leevi to put up the ketchup and for Jolee to pick up a toy that was by the table. Instantly the 3 year old spots the gun and climbs into a chair for a better look. I was impressed to hear my 5 year old tell her to get back from the gun and to pick up her toy. She did for a moment, but gets back into the chair and then Leevi does as well.
Leevi and Jolee are quiet at this point and Leevi picks up the pistol. He carefully rolls it back and forth in his hands looking at each side and then sets it back down. He never straightened it out and looked down the sights.
Both kiddos quickly run back to watch tv when my wife yells for Leevi to wipe down the table. (Pause...my kid was being insanely good tonight. This never happens so easily. Resume) Leevi runs into the kitchen, grabs the windex and a rag and sets it on the table. He then goes over to the last thing on the table, the pistol, and picks it up holding it by the handle, out in front with barrel down, and sets it onto the counter. He then proceeds to clean the kitchen.
This is the first we’ve ever tried this. I was both pleased and upset. He still touched the gun with me not around, but he backed off his sister, he didn’t play with it, and when he did touch it he never had it pointed in an unsafe direction. When we played the video for him he started crying. He said he was sad because he knew he wasn’t supposed to touch the gun.
There’s still progress to be made here. We had recorded the video and watched it with the two of them and reinforced to not touch the gun at all and to come get an adult. We ran through a few scenarios to drive it home.
We’ll retest somehow at a later date. We’ve also got a friend on board that is interested in seeing how the peer pressure of his kids may change things.
We can keep everything secure here at home, but in this world there’s no other way to know for sure until you know for sure.
The details behind this are as follows: my son is a young 5 and my daughter is a young 3. They’re both very exposed to firearms, but the guns are always secured appropriately and handled appropriately when out. My son, Leevi, is a hunting fanatic. He loves sitting in a box with me for hours watching deer. Jolee will be no different. Tonight my wife and I took one of my newer revolvers out of the cabinet and both double verified it to be unloaded and safetied. We sat the gun on the kitchen table then I had her FaceTime my phone which I propped up and hid in the corner of the dining room. Meanwhile my kids were watching TV in the living room.
We hid upstairs and the test was on. She hollered down the stairs for Leevi and Jolee to start cleaning off the table. Miraculously they both listened and ran into the kitchen. They both grabbed their plates and threw them into the sink. My 3 year old dashes back into the living room and my 5 year old hollers “Dad you’ve got a gun on the table” and then he goes back to the living room. He thinks I’m outside.
About a minute later my wife hollers back down the stairs for Leevi to put up the ketchup and for Jolee to pick up a toy that was by the table. Instantly the 3 year old spots the gun and climbs into a chair for a better look. I was impressed to hear my 5 year old tell her to get back from the gun and to pick up her toy. She did for a moment, but gets back into the chair and then Leevi does as well.
Leevi and Jolee are quiet at this point and Leevi picks up the pistol. He carefully rolls it back and forth in his hands looking at each side and then sets it back down. He never straightened it out and looked down the sights.
Both kiddos quickly run back to watch tv when my wife yells for Leevi to wipe down the table. (Pause...my kid was being insanely good tonight. This never happens so easily. Resume) Leevi runs into the kitchen, grabs the windex and a rag and sets it on the table. He then goes over to the last thing on the table, the pistol, and picks it up holding it by the handle, out in front with barrel down, and sets it onto the counter. He then proceeds to clean the kitchen.
This is the first we’ve ever tried this. I was both pleased and upset. He still touched the gun with me not around, but he backed off his sister, he didn’t play with it, and when he did touch it he never had it pointed in an unsafe direction. When we played the video for him he started crying. He said he was sad because he knew he wasn’t supposed to touch the gun.
There’s still progress to be made here. We had recorded the video and watched it with the two of them and reinforced to not touch the gun at all and to come get an adult. We ran through a few scenarios to drive it home.
We’ll retest somehow at a later date. We’ve also got a friend on board that is interested in seeing how the peer pressure of his kids may change things.
We can keep everything secure here at home, but in this world there’s no other way to know for sure until you know for sure.
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