I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

[ezbtr]

At each other and me - the guns for now gone for a month as well as cell phones, til who knows - I was pissed! Cant control his buds phone ,but Karls is gone til Tues, no tv, games tonight, they sleep! Had a very direct talk with them and let their folks(one mt ex know), the boys fessed up to stupidity, and they also will repeat that to their folks. My son knew better! Grrrr... I'd rather be mean now then later when one of em looses an eye! Both great boys - damn, I was pissed!

Would welcome any comments......

 

[veritas honus]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

At each other and me - the guns for now gone for a month as well as cell phones, til who knows - I was pissed! Cant control his buds phone ,but Karls is gone til Tues, no tv, games tonight, they sleep! Had a very direct talk with them and let their folks(one mt ex know), the boys fessed up to stupidity, and they also will repeat that to their folks. My son knew better! Grrrr... I'd rather be mean now then later when one of em looses an eye! Both great boys - damn, I was pissed!

Would welcome any comments......

My only experience with Airsoft was during a Tactical Medic certification. I'm sure you've already figured out that the instructors and SWAT Team members were the Perps. Never got hit myself, but the marks on my buddies that did... MAN!!! Airsoft, as you know, is not soft.
You weren't mean. You did the right thing; and handled it well from what you've stated. I don't know that I would have handled it quite so eloquently. Again, you did the right thing. Hopefully, it will never happen again...

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

Being a parent, you did the right thing....Don't sweat it.

 

[sasto]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

My father wouldn't have been pissed, he would have grounded me, not pissed....I gave him many reasons to be pissed later in life. I hope your boy dosen't put you thru what I put my Dad thru. Being a good Dad is difficult at times, appears you are a Dad that cares which is hard to find these days. Good Luck!

 

[dingbat]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

Kids will be kids. The guns would be taken away, but I'm don't think I would have taken the rest of the privileges away unless this was his second offense.

Mind you, this is coming from someone who used to dress up with coats and goggles in the middle of summer to play army with BB guns. The guns didn?t get taken away until I shot my brother in the back at point blank range which left a pretty good welt, evern thru a coat. He went crying to Mom and our guns where gone for a month.

 

[D Hanny]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

Being a parent, you did the right thing....Don't sweat it.

+1

As a father, you aren't supposed to be their friend - 'friendly' at times, yes, but the love is different, the relationship is different, and you did right.

Mind you, this is coming from someone who used to dress up with coats and goggles in the middle of summer to play army with BB guns. The guns didn?t get taken away until I shot my brother in the back at point blank range which left a pretty good welt, evern thru a coat. He went crying to Mom and our guns where gone for a month.

I got really lucky and convinced my crying little brother, somehow, to not tell Mom and Dad, lol. I used a spring loaded BB gun with a formed-candle-wax 'BB' that I shot at his leg. That was one beating I still have coming I guess, lol.

 

[1fishbone]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

You handled well.
The punishment of the loss of guns is understandable.
The phones and other stuff is your business.

As long as he/they understand the serious nature of the incident.
Maybe find some pictures of shooting accidents on the web might show him the 'visual' shock he/they need.

It did make me think of my 'punishments'
Banished to the room was bad...no radio was VERY painful!! (After an ***** warming)
There were not cell phones, video games, ipods, mp3 players, internet etc, and there was only ONE TV in the house.

Kids today have so many distractions...choosing WHAT to take away must be challenging!!

 

[jm_26]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

You were mild. When I was 9 had a bb gun. One morning I was outside shooting ants off the concrete foundation of the house. I heard my name and looked up to see my father watching me out the window. He said bring the gun to me, reminded me about the dangers of guns and ricochet, and took the gun. The next time I saw the gun it was in two pieces in the garbage can I had to take out for trash pickup. I got a .22 when I was 15 and you can be sure I have never used a gun in an unsafe manner ever again. They are too dangerous to be nice about.

 

[JB]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

I think you did a correct thing, ezbtr, but you shouldn't have done it angry. You should have cooled off first.

When you are angry there is too much risk of overkill and of reduced credibility. You don't want the boys to get the idea that it is making you angry that got them punished. They need to understand that it is the bad behavior that is being addressed, not Dad's temper.

Still, I think you did well. There were many opportunities to do badly. You skipped them all. Congratulations.

 

[ToothDocNick]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

I don't think you were too harsh at all. I have repaired 5-6 young men in my office after "accidents" involving Airsoft guns. All of them were shot in the face and busted teeth. Most of the time it is the very front tooth or teeth and they are the biggest pains. They usually chip a small portion off and then you repair it with tooth colored filling and tell them not to bite or chew on it because it cannot take the force. Two weeks later they are in again because they ate something and broke it off. Then they disappear or a month or two and they are in again. By that time the parent usually thinks it is my fault so I usually ask them in private what they were doing and most of the time it is something I directly said not to do. I had a mom get pissy with me a few weeks ago over one of these. She asked me if I knew what I was doing and she was tired of bringing her son in to have it fixed because I did bad work. I politely looked at her and said, "Yep....I am the idiot here, nevermind the fact that the first time your son broke his tooth he was eating a sucker....the second time he was biting into an apple, and the last time he was chewing on a pencil. That makes me the retard in the room by your standards." You could see her look of shock as he had told her it just came off all three times. Hopefully she finds another dentist.

On a similar note, Christmas day my nephews came over for dinner (14 & 9 years old) and brought their Airsoft guns to the house with them. Not quite sure why since they were inside the entire day, but I guess they thought they looked "cool". They were pointing them at one another and I politely said, "You two shouldn't point them at one another, your gonna shoot someone in the face and I am not fixing your teeth because you are being idiots." Their dad was a little peeved at me (brother-in-law). As they are packing up the leave the oldest one was horsing around and his gun went off "accidentally". The pellet bounced off the floor and hit my brother-in-law in the forehead. I about pissed myself laughing. He then proceeded to about kill his son because he was told not to point them at people. It was pretty ironic.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

I will bite my tongue with my other thoughts on this one with the exception of saying that I think you handled the situation well ezbtr.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

The kids (mine included) in the neighborhood have airsoft wars. All have goggles on at all times - NO EXCEPTIONS. EVER. The rules (they are many) came from all of the parents at once and are enforced by all. If somebody screws up they're done for the day. No one has screwed up yet.

 

[j_martin]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

You were mild. When I was 9 had a bb gun. One morning I was outside shooting ants off the concrete foundation of the house. I heard my name and looked up to see my father watching me out the window. He said bring the gun to me, reminded me about the dangers of guns and ricochet, and took the gun. The next time I saw the gun it was in two pieces in the garbage can I had to take out for trash pickup. I got a .22 when I was 15 and you can be sure I have never used a gun in an unsafe manner ever again. They are too dangerous to be nice about.

Hey, the ant shoot sounds like fun. The rule here is if you're going to shoot rats in the shop with a 22, use bird shot so you don't blow holes in the place that'll let the rain in.

Airsoft is full gear, welts heal, it's part of the game.

Gun safety is tops here. All 9 of my kids know all they need to know to use any fire arm safely and effectively.

 

[JRJ]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

I'd say you did OK. Might make them wear eye protection when playing with guns. With two boys, we had dart guns, sling-shots, BB guns, bow and arrows, .22's etc. No injuries, one large bedroom mirror. Have fun with the boys, maybe get yourself one of these air guns.

 

[jayhanig]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

 

[ezbtr]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

Sure I was angry, and also explained all the reasons why and that I was greatly concerned about their well being/didnt want to see either getting hurt.

And also that my aunt was killed this way when she was 5, by her 14 yr old cousin playing with an "unloaded" hunting rifle, back in the old country(Hungary), head shot, took 4 days to die, her cousin who had the rifle, thought about it til the day he died(in his late 70's).

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

I missed this thread but I would have to agree with your reaction to this Heinz. The anger part is probably more indirect in knowing of the possible consequences (which your son and his friend don't yet get) rather than direct targeted anger.
I have (had) a soft air rifle in the basement for the kids to play with and the first rule I drilled into them is it points to the floor when it isn't pointing at the specific target...no exceptions.
Your son, didn't directly mean any harm (you know this) but is not yet fully aware of the consequences. He is now aware of the consequences of breaking the rules regarding the usage. Hopefully that is going to hold water for him....I think it will.
Good luck with it either way
BP

 

[mommicked]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

when I and my friends were young and dumb and unsupervised we played "war" or "cowboys and indians" with bb guns.two pairs of jeans on and you had to aim below the waist.about the third time we played a friend was shot in the forehead above his eye and the bb lodged under his skin about 2" from the entry point.i had to push the bb over to the hole where it popped out along w alot of crying and cursing from the wounded cowboy.We stopped playing w bb guns that day thank god!maybe they should try paintball w the essential safety gear.ive done that before and its lots of fun,but paintballs can hurt you also if too fast or too close range.they can leave a nasty welt and even break skin.Its great fun to be shot in the mouth thru the facemask,they taste great and the flavor lasts for a long time!eye protection should be used w all forms of shooting even nerf guns or high powered water guns can hurt your eyes.My dad taught several rules for real firearms.Always check the chamber when someone hands you a gun even if you know its not loaded.always unload before putting a gun in the truck or car.or bringing it in the house(hunting guns).never point it at anything until your about to shoot it.using the safety after each shooting string was drilled into us while target practicing until it became automatic!!you cannot be too safe around firearms,even lightly powered ones.

 

[produceguy]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

You handled it great. I take everything away from my children,radio,tv,phones,wii,posters off their wall.useage of the computer,anything that I can think of when they mess up.( Mean right) I make them earn it all back week by week. This works great and teaches them that things are not given to them in life , they must earn it by doing the right things.

 

[Chris-R]

Re: I went off at my 12 yr old son and his bud for pointing airsoft rifles!

You did the right thing and you were not too hard on your son.