Over the weekend I posted about this communications breakdown by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office. One of the points I made was about teaching children to defend the homestead in the event of trouble while the parents were out.
Our good man Rivrdog made some good points in his comment, but questioned the variables in training a child to pull watch duty. While not attempting to prove RD wrong, below the fold I will relay some anecdotals that solidify my belief that adolescents are fully capable of that job.
My father was an FFL dealer and “The Shop” and “The House” were on the same piece of property. Due to this circumstance, the property was never left alone. When we went on family vacations, one of his friends or a relative stayed over to watch the place.
When I made it to my twelfth summer, my new “chore” was to take daily firearms instruction from some friends of his. Some of them had military or police backgrounds, others were semi-professional gunners who travelled the regional competition circuits in the various firearms disciplines. This is pre-IDPA and just after the establishment of Offical IPSC in the PNW area.
By that winter, I had started competing in various regional matches, usually just “Action/Combat Pistol”, but every now and then we’d have a go at a 2 or 3 Gun match. I was using a Series 70 Colt Commander in .38Super, a Remington 870 in 20ga and my dad’s Scheutzen Gun Works CAR-15. As they hadn’t thought of children competing in these sports, and my dad wasn’t going to have me winning rigged comps, I shot with the grown-ups. I did a whole lot of losing for the first two seasons, which sucked, but I was twelve/thirteen and doing something no one else I knew my age was doing, so I had few complaints. As I improved I started getting compliments and tips from my fellow shooters, which was very cool, and my training continued.
Most of the courses took place outdoors and most of the course designers were sadists. Lost of house clearing scenarios and parking lot drills with real (though non-running) cars, with a “Jungle Trail” once a month when we visited a certain club that had lots of property.
My forteenth year was the first time I beat my dad. I had to start reloading my own ammo after that. It was also at that time that I became the primary “watcher of the house”. I’d spend Sunday night doing homework and watching movies while my dad and step-mom would go out. Luckily, nothing ever happened while I was home alone, though if it did, I believe that I was trained and prepared to react.
While teenage girls like the one in the previous post are probably more inclined to enjoy house decorating than house clearing, there is no reason that parents couldn’t and shouldn’t train all of their kids to defend the homestead.
If you have children and have even a half-assed SHTF plan, it has to involve them protecting themselves and you with firearms. When your kids get to an age where you think they’re ready for it, boy or girl, you need to get them into competition. Even if it is just a 10 year old with a Ruger MKII or a Buckmark going through the stage with you on their heels after the adults are done and the officals are tallying scores, this will get them interested to go again.
You want to talk childhood memories; I remember my first match like it was yesterday. It was a semi-open stage and the other competitors could watch the last portion. It was a big rush to have a crowd cheering me on as I exited the “house” (made of 2x4s and black visqueen), placed three out of four shots on the mover, changed mags, safety on and holstered, climbed over the 5×5 “wall”, landed, re-drew, took cover behind a 55 gallon barrel, engaged the four bad guys from it’s right hand side, taking care not to hit the hostages blocking the two outside ones and rung the time stop plate.
Basic firearms skills and range time with the chilluns is great, but putting them “under the clock” even if it is only in their mind, gets them prepared for the pressures that will arrive in their adult lives. At least get them out to watch a match. If they like it, and what teenage male wouldn’t, talk to the match officals and see if they’ll conspire to get your youngin hooked on gun-phonics.
While I’m not as fast or as mobile these days, I still like an occasional competition. The only reason I don’t go more often is because I go to shoot (test form and improve where necessary), while a goodly number of the other competitors go solely to win. Too much time is spent arguing over minor rules interpretations at my local IDPA and IPSC matches. Someone wants their edge and they’re willing to waste everyone’s time arguing over the spacing of a set of plates or some such piddling matter. These Range Queens have always annoyed me, only now I’m old enough that I can just ask for my refund and drive myself home.
Do not let this discourage you and your child. It is a life lesson about whiners and gives them the drive to try and figuratively step on their nuts.
Most of all, just get your kids to the range.