The grandchild from hell!

[Michelle]

I remember carrying a .22 crackshot for the first time when I was five years old. Part of why I behaved was because I was trusted with things beyond my experience. So long as I acted like I knew I should I got to do things no other kids were doing. The old man knew what he was doing, he never coddled me or made me a lesser person because I was small. I was treated with respect and given responsibility as a reward. Not gifts or toys, piece of mind. That alone is the way to make a child into an adult. How could you expect a child to mature without giving them the confidence of accepting and fulfilling responsibility? I was proud to carry that little rifle and go out hunting when most kids were playing with toys. I remember it fondly, it shaped my whole life to come. I think this is an important lesson, people are too afraid of what might happen to get kids involved with the responsible actions of being an adult. -James 

+3