My wife came home one day and found me with my (at that time) 7 year old daughter and 4 year old son, at the kitchen table, "counting bullets". They were helping me load magazines, so each one would count out the proper number to fill a magazine and I'd load one as each got me the rounds. They thought it was great fun, and my wife's reaction was amused astonishment at first followed by lots of laughter. They both learned firearm part nomenclature early, and my daughter (9 now) is always right with me if I'm working on one of my guns; wants to know what I'm doing and why, how the parts fit together, and what effect what I'm doing will have on the gun. She's also one of the few little girls who can watch Bambi and start thinking about what's for dinner. At 7, she started helping me process my deer (or antelope, or elk) because she wanted to. My wife, fortunately for me, is amused by the whole thing. She's very supportive of my hobbies, and doesn't mind the kids being there with me doing them.

My son's first round downrange came when he was 6; he was with me at the club while I was sighting in my varmint AR. He put a couple downrange, the first was 2" high and to the right of the bull. Daddy has that target AND the cartridge case, along with pictures of my boy with the rifle, ready to go into a shadow box. My daughter just got her first .22 for Christmas courtesy of pickenup; we haven't had a chance to go shoot it yet due to vacation and my club's closure for some HVAC work but it's coming up here VERY soon. She's so excited, I have no idea how she's managed to be so patient as long as she has. Definately Daddy's girl.