I started my son diving that way and the effect it had was to make increase his comfort in the water and give him a leg up in class when he certified at age 12.
As for shooting, we started that at about age 6, and my Dad started me shooting at about the same age. By age 8 I was taking a .22 out rabbit hunting on my own in our orchards and shelterbelts.
I think there is real value in taking the mystery out of firearms by educating kids as to their proper use. It becomes an opportunity to teach personal responsibility as well - opportunities for that seem to be becoming much less frequent in our current "protect us from oursleves" society gone amuck.
I went to grade school in the early 70's in a smallish sized town and it was common for kids to bring BB guns and .22 rifles to school for show and tell and for the playgorund teacher to supervise some shooting during recess (the school was on the edge of town with a suitable bluff for a backstop.) We did not have problems with violence in the school and in fact if we did, the would be killer would have probably been cut down in a hail of gunfire and/or cut to ribbons with the 4" to 6" Buck knives that were more or less standard attire for the male students older than 10-11 long before the police could have responded. A Columbine incident just would not have ever happened in that environment.
Responsbility was a concept that was undertstood and the administration would leave the high school gym open (and unsupervised) until 10:00pm with the understanding that the first time there wa s problem or the floor was not swept before we left would terminate the program. The unspervised after school gym use was still going strong when I left.
30 years later I found my self wishing my son could have grown up in a school like that, but unfortuntately that is a thing of the past. I agree that we need to protect our children and control the risks they take, but I think we also need to understand that protecting our children from every possible harm and/or preventing them from participating in and learning from controlled risk activities does them far more harm that most of us realize in terms of loss of confidence, reduction in self-efficacy and developmental delay and reduced maturation.
I am also not advocating an end to Soccer programs, (but am suggesting some rule changes may be in order to with regard to heading to reduce or minimize some of the long term cognitive impacts from the sport) as they are a valuable way for kids to learn teamwork, socialization, self esteem, etc in addition to maintaining physical fitness. The only difference I see is that soccer is politically correct and accepted as a child's sport, while diving and shooting are no longer viewed that way as diving is perceived as "dangerous" and shooting is regarded as being "evil" in many circles.
As for shooting, we started that at about age 6, and my Dad started me shooting at about the same age. By age 8 I was taking a .22 out rabbit hunting on my own in our orchards and shelterbelts.
I think there is real value in taking the mystery out of firearms by educating kids as to their proper use. It becomes an opportunity to teach personal responsibility as well - opportunities for that seem to be becoming much less frequent in our current "protect us from oursleves" society gone amuck.
I went to grade school in the early 70's in a smallish sized town and it was common for kids to bring BB guns and .22 rifles to school for show and tell and for the playgorund teacher to supervise some shooting during recess (the school was on the edge of town with a suitable bluff for a backstop.) We did not have problems with violence in the school and in fact if we did, the would be killer would have probably been cut down in a hail of gunfire and/or cut to ribbons with the 4" to 6" Buck knives that were more or less standard attire for the male students older than 10-11 long before the police could have responded. A Columbine incident just would not have ever happened in that environment.
Responsbility was a concept that was undertstood and the administration would leave the high school gym open (and unsupervised) until 10:00pm with the understanding that the first time there wa s problem or the floor was not swept before we left would terminate the program. The unspervised after school gym use was still going strong when I left.
30 years later I found my self wishing my son could have grown up in a school like that, but unfortuntately that is a thing of the past. I agree that we need to protect our children and control the risks they take, but I think we also need to understand that protecting our children from every possible harm and/or preventing them from participating in and learning from controlled risk activities does them far more harm that most of us realize in terms of loss of confidence, reduction in self-efficacy and developmental delay and reduced maturation.
I am also not advocating an end to Soccer programs, (but am suggesting some rule changes may be in order to with regard to heading to reduce or minimize some of the long term cognitive impacts from the sport) as they are a valuable way for kids to learn teamwork, socialization, self esteem, etc in addition to maintaining physical fitness. The only difference I see is that soccer is politically correct and accepted as a child's sport, while diving and shooting are no longer viewed that way as diving is perceived as "dangerous" and shooting is regarded as being "evil" in many circles.
