My friends have weird children...

[LadyofArc]

Or at least funny ones.

Friend the First

So she's set up a secret/private FB group where she'll share pics of her kid as she grows up, so that way those who actually want to see the pics can and she's not going to end up being one of those oversharing mummies. She also occasionally shares videos of kiddo doing various things.

Kiddo is now 9 months old and starting to crawl. The video of her kid crawling for the first time had her going like this *wiggle butt and legs...inch forward...wiggle butt and legs...inch forward...see mummy, push up to a crawling position and give a big grin. * She did that twice. It almost looked like "Mummy, am I doing it? Did you see that mummy?!" Apparently she's now crawling much better though.

Friend the Second

This friend has a five-year-old son. She managed to sneakily purchase his Christmas present and hid it somewhere for him, with the goal to wrap it later. Well, apparently she didn't hide it well enough because the next morning he came into her bedroom and presented a wrapped gift to her - he'd found his Christmas gift and "wrapped it for [her] to save [her] time."

I can't wait until Christmas when I get to try and geek-ify my younger cousin's 4-month-old. (Although the father of said kid is thankfully a geek himself)

[LadyofArc]

And the weird children stories continue!

So at my archery club, we will occasionally set up for a clout shoot. When we do, one of our club members has a tendency to lean back and bend his right knee while shooting a clout round.

Future member bought his daughters along to the shoot (we allowed this and they used blunt arrows, but treated them as real ones). After the club member above did a round of clout shots, about 30 seconds later we look over and see future member's youngest daughter (who's 4) doing the exact same thing .

[Mental_Mouse]

After the club member above did a round of clout shots, about 30 seconds later we look over and see our future member, his youngest daughter (who's 4) doing the exact same thing .

FTFY!

[LadyofArc]

FTFY!

Funnily enough, I'm actually serious - he's not a member as of yet with us. We're a re-enactor club first and an archery club second and is a member of another re-enactment club. (We have close links with the SCA, but that's another story)

His kids are 4 and 7 and are very well-behaved, although the younger one occasionally forgets the rules at the range (even though both girls use blunts, we treat them like real arrows partially to drill the rules in them now)

[LadyofArc]

I had an utterly hilarious story relayed to me by one of our members today.

She's currently unable to shoot because she broke her collarbone due to a horse kicking her (purely accidental, it's one she owns). She's also a preschool teacher.

Apparently when she told the kids in her group what happened (I actually suggested using the experience as a teaching opportunity eg "what happens in a hospital, who are the important people you'll meet" etc.), they all wanted to go and watch the surgery she'll need to have at some stage.

She referred to them as her "gory little lambs" and that she was so proud of them, all with a straight face.

I then relayed the story of the 2-year-old I once looked after on work experience who knew what happened when a rabbit was skinned...to the sheer amusement of everyone else

[Tanasi]

It doesn't like so many years ago that kids who were interested in the martial arts (archery, firearms, fencing) were few and far between and even then were considered to be on the nutty side. Now days several of the public and private schools have clubs and teams. My five oldest kids all participated in SCTP (Scholastic Clay Target Program.) There are many colleges and universities have have scholarships for these sports. A cow-irkr's son has a scholarship for bass fishing, another friend's daughter has a scholarship for barrel-racing. At my alma mater they had a national championship small-bore rifle team where both the girls and boys competed together. It was disbanded when Title-9 came along. The university killed all the sports teams that were winning to keep football and basketball that were traditional losers.
With the Hunger Games movie there was a tremendous surge of girls getting into archery. While it quickly fell off afterwords several girls stuck with it. One of doctors has a daughter that is nationally ranked in Olympic archery and has an Ivy League scholarship for archery. Her friends used to tease her for her interest but now they're not. Sometimes these weird intests can really get you ahead.

[LadyofArc]

It doesn't like so many years ago that kids who were interested in the martial arts (archery, firearms, fencing) were few and far between and even then were considered to be on the nutty side. Now days several of the public and private schools have clubs and teams.

I recall a few years back, there was a MAJOR hubbub about how a private school were allowed to have access to a shooting range for the purposes of shooting (as a sport) - the issue was more that if a public school had done that, the media would've portrayed it very differently. (as it happens, a girl at the [public] high school I went to is either due to compete this year or has competed in the Commonwealth Games in shooting)

Archery at a school level is less common but it does exist. Those who are serious typically train through clubs rather than a school having an archery team.

As my group is a re-enactor club first and an archery club second, those who join are joining more for the complete package, rather than to just shoot. The kids coming along are a bonus.

[Tanasi]

I recall a few years back, there was a MAJOR hubbub about how a private school were allowed to have access to a shooting range for the purposes of shooting (as a sport) - the issue was more that if a public school had done that, the media would've portrayed it very differently. (as it happens, a girl at the [public] high school I went to is either due to compete this year or has competed in the Commonwealth Games in shooting)

Archery at a school level is less common but it does exist. Those who are serious typically train through clubs rather than a school having an archery team.

As my group is a re-enactor club first and an archery club second, those who join are joining more for the complete package, rather than to just shoot. The kids coming along are a bonus.

I think the biggest reason the shooting sports have taken off here is the success of first teams. At the national SCTP Championship shoot my state had the largest number of participants and teams have won. The private schools had to demonstrate that the program could be conducted safely and get sponsors. Both of the gun clubs I belong to sponsor teams by both contributing firearms, ammo and facilities/targets. When parents learn there is scholarships available they get behind their kids and encourage them. We've always drilled safety first and teamwork and the kids have responded in the best ways. You've heard of soccer moms we have both shotgun moms and dads.
As I said archery has also taken off especially for girls. My youngest daughter in addition to the firearms sports also took up archery with some friends. While she didn't pursue archery she still loves it and bow hunts with her brothers.
I used to belong to a re-enactor club but artillery was our thing.

[Rosco the Iroc]

[QUOTE=LadyofArc;1357869]Or at least funny ones.

Friend the Second

This friend has a five-year-old son. She managed to sneakily purchase his Christmas present and hid it somewhere for him, with the goal to wrap it later. Well, apparently she didn't hide it well enough because the next morning he came into her bedroom and presented a wrapped gift to her - he'd found his Christmas gift and "wrapped it for [her] to save [her] time."
/QUOTE]
Parenting -they are doing it right, that's so sweet.

I recall a few years back, there was a MAJOR hubbub about how a private school were allowed to have access to a shooting range for the purposes of shooting (as a sport) - the issue was more that if a public school had done that, the media would've portrayed it very differently. (as it happens, a girl at the [public] high school I went to is either due to compete this year or has competed in the Commonwealth Games in shooting)

My HS had a range in the basement. It still has the rifle team but the range was not up to standards and to bring it up they just need to start with an new school.
A few public schools still have teams around here.

[LadyofArc]

One of our long-standing members has been bringing his girlfriend to the range a LOT recently. Said girlfriend is a mother of two. Oldest is in her teens, youngest is 8. Both of them are absolutely LOVING this (to the point where the 8-year-old was disappointed when we weren't forging at a recent event, but she got to make her own knife)

Turns out the 8-year-old thinks...very differently. Couple of quotes from her tonight:

“People who cut down trees should be banished to Antarctica. There’s no trees for them to destroy there”

“Who came up with the idea of money anyway? It’s just bits of paper and doesn’t really mean anything”