Ryan turned 12 on saturday and for his birthday he got a 10/22 Carbine in Stainless from his dear ol'stepfaddah! He had an extra day off today for a Dr. appointment so we took advantage and headed to the range. He shot both open sights and a red dot I picked up from Rszmit on here for cheap. (Thanks again, Rob. I owe you one!) It was smiles all around. Went to the Bullet Hole and had a grand old time. RO's were great as usual.

 

Broke it in with 70 rounds of CCI mini mags, then straight to Federal.

 

The orange dot to the left of the scope with the tighter group is 7 shots, standing, with my elbow on the bench. 10ish yards. Great little shooter with the scope. I really enjoyed it.

 

C

 

Glad you had a good time. It's nice to see our sport bringing families together.

I've always found it amazing how my 8 year old can run through the house like a tornado - break furniture, hit his brother and talk back. But when he goes to the range with his .22 Cricket, he is safe, courteous, helpful and obeys the rules.

 

The only thing I can think of is that he knows that when I give him an instruction at the range - I'm serious.

 

A box of .22 ammunition, my two boys, and an afternoon at Ft. Dix are about the closest I ever hope to see of heaven until G-d decides otherwise.

I look forward to when my daughter is a little older and I can do this. Hopefully she has an interest

My stepson is... difficult. He is O.D.D. (oppositional defiance disorder) which I would've called bull**it on until I had to live with it. He argues EVERYTHING with everyone. He is also ADHD and OCD. He was recently pulled out of the public school system and placed in a private school. So, again, he's difficult.

 

At the range, he's a delight. Who knows, I just take it for the joy that it is in that moment. No more, no less.

 

C

My stepson is... difficult. He is O.D.D. (oppositional defiance disorder) which I would've called bull**it on until I had to live with it. He argues EVERYTHING with everyone. He is also ADHD and OCD. He was recently pulled out of the public school system and placed in a private school. So, again, he's difficult.

 

At the range, he's a delight. Who knows, I just take it for the joy that it is in that moment. No more, no less.

 

C

 

Having ADHD and odd is someone that can be managed. I have both. Obviously there are different levels of the problem. The key is to find his interests and support them. It sounds easy but a lot of people don't do that. Once he finds his niche he will excel at it and it almost like OCD. I tried a ton of different things but realized I always wanted to be a police officer. That made me find shooting. Now I truly found what I love to do. You can see an example of this because of how focused he is at the range. Good luck and enjoy

That sounds like a great day. You are a good stepdad.

 

Be optimistic with the ADHD and OCDs . Awareness helps them find their way and be functioning members of society.

 

I had ADD ( no HD) , though it was not called that yet , as a child well into my early 20s before I learned to control impulses and pay attention even if I wasn't incredibly interested in something. The teachers gave me the nickname cloudnine because I was never paying attention and always daydreaming. I wound up , depsite it all , having a long very sucessful sales career before having kids at age 36 .

 

It is just that more important to channel kids like that and help them find activities they love and respect. Sounds like you did just that

Good to hear that you had a good time....

Thanks all!! I really appreciate the kind words.

 

C

Bravo! Glad he had a good time.

He most certainly did. Thanks.

 

C

Cool story and I'm glad for you! Enjoy every minute being with him. My son grew into a man, went to college and got a job and moved 1,100 miles from home. Time will slip by and before you know it, hopefully he'll do well in school and the same thing could happen to you. Shooting is always something we'll have to do with each other.

 

Again, my congrats for being a great Dad!

 

Dave