Children, cross eye dominance, technique

[FLG8R]

So I am an excited father of an 8 and 6 year old boys. Their interest and maturity have grown in my sport and shooting so we have started safety and appropriate discussions regarding firearms. I have noticed that although both right hand dominant, when looking down a scope they have a tendency to view with the left eye. I have encouraged both eyes open when handling pistols, and that I think they get. I have also encouraged both eyes open on red dots on rifles and scoped rifles, but because of their size and beginner level, think they might have a hard time with scopes and irons...

Do I encourage left handed rifle shooting and right handed pistol? Same for archery? What they feel natural with?

Would appreciate the ideas of others....

Thanks

Flg8r

[grapemeister]

I don't have children but I can tell you my own experience as a right handed/left eye dominant shooter. As a kid I didn't get to shoot a pistol much but I shot a rifle quiet a bit up through about the 7th grade.

Because I started off early training myself to close the left eye, it wasn't nearly as difficult to adapt on the rare occasion I shoot a rifle as an adult. There was a long period between about 7th grade until I joined the Army that I rarely shot a pistol or rifle. I remember when I was first handed an M16 in the Army I found it difficult to keep my left eye (strong eye) closed but after a little practice it wasn't an issue. I believe that If I didn't have the experiences as a kid, I would have had a lot harder time with it. Adult instruction with different types of rifles, and hundreds, if not thousands of hours spent shooting a B-B gun in the back yard really payed off when I was handed the M16.

The pistol, on the other hand, I pretty much had to figure out on my own since I rarely ever shot a pistol growing up, and when I did the adults always insisted that I close my left (strong eye). I remember having a heck of a time with that. It was the same when I was in the Police academy at about 20 or 21 years old. The instructors insisted that I close my left eye. Well, it just so happened and I was very fortunate to figure out on my own that if I slightly turn my head to the right, and moved the gun slightly to the left, I didn't have to close either eye, and I could see the sights with no problem, and no double or ghost image of the sight.

I'm just your average B class IPSC shooter, but I know there are a lot better shooters than me, Mike Seeklander being one of them, that do the same thing as me when it comes to pistol shooting and it doesn't seem to slow them down.

I think it's awesome that you're exploring different options for your kids. Like I said, when I was a kid and early adulthood, there was no options given from the adults. It was the old fashion "this is the only way" stuff.

If it was me I would give your kids some options and let them experiment. Find out what comes more naturally to them. Switching to left hand shooting for rifle and pistol might be the answer, or it may not.

Hope this helps.

Chris

[FLG8R]

Thanks for the reply. I have a few options iron sights on the BB gun, scoped ruger 10-22 and a cmore on another 22. I stress the safety and basic marksmanship. I realize its about fun for them, but want them to develop good habits... I honestly believe pistol will be easier and less awkward, but they're still a little young for them just yet...

[grapemeister]

Thanks for the reply. I have a few options iron sights on the BB gun, scoped ruger 10-22 and a cmore on another 22. I stress the safety and basic marksmanship. I realize its about fun for them, but want them to develop good habits... I honestly believe pistol will be easier and less awkward, but they're still a little young for them just yet...

You know your kids the best so you're probably right on holding off on pistol shooting for a while. We had a kid shooting at our club match for a while that was about 10 years old but he was abnormally mature for his age. If it were me I would really push rifle iron sight shooting, right and left handed until they figure out which is best for them. Either way is probably going to take a fair amount of time to train them to keep one eye closed. Of course, a lot of this depends on how weak the weak eye is.

Although my left eye is much stronger, I can still see the sights on a rifle clearly with my right (weak) eye. Targets are fuzzy when focusing on them with my weak eye, but targets are fuzzy anyhow when focusing on the sight so it doesn't matter.

You're an awesome dad, keep up the good work.