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Now we have a gun-toting teenager
At first I wasn't sure if arming my teen-ager would be a good idea. I pictured him sawing off the end of his new BB-gun rifle and shoving the weapon into his shorts, jumping on his bicycle and
riding towards some kind of stand-off with Plantation police.
But putting trust in teens, scary as it might feel, can actually build a sense of responsibility in them. I think kids rise to expectations. And you have to set them very high.
So, yes, we bought Creed a BB-gun for his 13th birthday. We also bought him a few pistol-style air guns that shoot plastic BBs and are less powerful than the rifle, in case you "accidentally'' shot someone with it.
I think most boys had a BB gun at some point in their youth, and I wasn't going to deprive him. Even I spent quite a bit of time as a teen shooting BB guns. I was on a BB-gun shooting team with other kids whose parents worked at Oklahoma State Penitentiary. We were taught to shoot by convicts, so I guess you could say we were trained by experts.
But there was a kid among us, Jimmy Cook, with a glass eye -- the result of a ricocheted BB. Creed has heard about him 1,000 times. So Creed wears his gun goggles.
So far, no one has been seriously injured.
I told Creed he could shoot lizards. He was horrified. That's when the teen came out:
"Mom, I don't shoot lizards! I'm not a monster like you!''
OK. Guess I'll have to dust off my trigger finger and take care of those lizards myself.
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 13, and Lily, 6, and is married...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator, and father of two boys and a girl all under the age of seven.
Comments
I'm proud of you guys! I thought all liberal left leaning news reporters universally were horrified at anything that doesn't smell of roses, rainbows, and hand-holding. Perhaps there is hope after all.
Posted by: Jeff | July 22, 2008 10:24 AM
You'll shoot your eye out, Creed!
Posted by: Jeremy | July 22, 2008 12:35 PM
I have to agree with Jeff. I thought all the liberal media reporters ran screaming the other way at even a thought of a weapon, much less a weapon in the hands of a teenager.
Brittany, you just broke the mold. Maybe there's hope for the Sentinel yet. Kudos to you for trusing in your child enough to give him a chance.
A red letter day, indeed.
Now, show me your NRA card, and I'll truly believe.
Posted by: Darth Daddy | July 22, 2008 2:04 PM
I don't have an issue with guns or with teens learning how to responsibly handle a gun. I do have a problem with a parent giving a kid a gun and telling him to go shoot animals for fun. Nice parenting. By the way, lizards are harmless and beneficial to our gardens and yards.
Posted by: wsr | July 22, 2008 5:18 PM
I must say I am proud of your approach to this. By setting the bar and allowing your child to know how he/she is expected to behave you bestow a great deal of trust upon them. I think that children recognize this and do rise to the occasion - it is a great idea to teach your child to behave responsibly but let their own moral compass guide their way.
By the way - all of the small brown lizards are an invasive species from the islands and have displaced the native green florida anole (lizard) to the point the native ones are hard to find. the cuban anoles (brown ones) are disruptive to the natural habitats that are left; removing them is actually a good thing because then the native flordia anole (green) can then be restored to its native habitat otherwise we may loose the florida anole forever!
Posted by: anna | July 22, 2008 6:31 PM
An advocate for green anoles, are you, Anna? Yea, right. Lizards, regardless of color, are beneficial for yards and gardens.
By the way, a child's "moral compass" is set by their parents.
Posted by: Wsr | July 23, 2008 8:49 AM
Wow, I am really impressed. A non-liberal blog on here, suggesting a BB gun for a kid. I love it! Tell Michael Mayo to take lessons from you! PS, shooting a lizard with a BB gun takes skill. If he can do that, that's pretty darn impressive. Hell, the FWC says you can legally shoot those Iguanas that roam wild. Do your neighbors a favor and blast em!
Posted by: GRD | July 23, 2008 9:37 AM
I have been around firearms my entire life, and Im only sixteen. I was taught the proper way to handle them. When I was a child, if there was two things I had respect for it was my parents and firearms.
Posted by: Chase | July 29, 2008 7:12 PM