All the boys in the neighborhood have BB guns. It is just part of growing up in the country for little boys. These boys spend hours "hunting" in the field. Cole is the only one without a gun, but he has his trusty sling shot and a decent bow with arrows for these escapades. Weston and I have had the rule that he needed to be eight years old to have a BB gun, but after watching Cole long for one all summer we decided that he was just as trustworthy and mature as the other boys. Besides he had been trapsing along with them all summer carrying their guns, adding one more wouldn't be that much more of a hazard right?
Cole went birthday shopping with Grammy and she called and said that all he wanted was a BB gun, and asked permission to get him one. I finally caved and said yes. He was so proud of that thing. He shot clothespins off the clothesline for hours as Grammy's house. The next Cole set out to shoot his gun for a bit. I watched out the window as he shot apples off the tree. It was all pretty innocent. A short time later Kallie came in to tell me that Cole had shot the glass out of the basketball hoop. He was nowhere to be found, but sure enough that glass was completely shattered. I finally found a very scared, sad little boy who handed his gun right over to me without a fight. I was more mad than I should have been, and was punished by having to go to the hair salon with me for over two hours. (That is serious torture for any boy) He was so remourseful and I felt bad for getting so mad at him. The gun is still in my possession until I decide different. I have let him shoot it once with me with him. Really it was a good lesson for him and I. I need to trust my own rules more and quit overestimating my six year old. He really is such a good boy and quite mature for his age but his is still only six. He also learned that BB guns are pretty powerful and need to be used with extreme caution.
Cole went birthday shopping with Grammy and she called and said that all he wanted was a BB gun, and asked permission to get him one. I finally caved and said yes. He was so proud of that thing. He shot clothespins off the clothesline for hours as Grammy's house. The next Cole set out to shoot his gun for a bit. I watched out the window as he shot apples off the tree. It was all pretty innocent. A short time later Kallie came in to tell me that Cole had shot the glass out of the basketball hoop. He was nowhere to be found, but sure enough that glass was completely shattered. I finally found a very scared, sad little boy who handed his gun right over to me without a fight. I was more mad than I should have been, and was punished by having to go to the hair salon with me for over two hours. (That is serious torture for any boy) He was so remourseful and I felt bad for getting so mad at him. The gun is still in my possession until I decide different. I have let him shoot it once with me with him. Really it was a good lesson for him and I. I need to trust my own rules more and quit overestimating my six year old. He really is such a good boy and quite mature for his age but his is still only six. He also learned that BB guns are pretty powerful and need to be used with extreme caution.
He also went birthday shopping with Grandma Crapo, and came home with fencing supplies. That boy never ceases to crack me up. All the neighbor boys were baffled that he would pick out string, sticks, hammers, and nails instead of some great new toy. They drilled him pretty good about what a silly choice that was. I was proud of him, he didn't waver a bit in being confident with his choice of gift. And it wasn't long before all four boys were out there hammering and stringing up a miniature fence right along with him. That entertained them for days as they put it up and then redid it all over again. I love Cole's creativity and resourcefulness. I love that he knows how to have a great time without toys and that he can be confident and show a bunch of older boys how to do the same.
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