My daughter started by shooting my Bearcat. She was 18 months old at the time. We go to my in-laws place on weekends and shoot skeet and do a little plinking. She started hollering that it was her turn. Yea, she has me wrapped around her finger. So i sat down with her and showed her how to load and fire it. She looked funny with my muffs and glasses on. But she took too it fast. Now its like she has been doing it for years. The first thing she does when she gets a rifle is, point muzzle down, flick the safety on check the chamber and then she loads it. She never puts her finger near the trigger until she is ready to fire. And she never waves the barrel around. I know adults that aren't that careful.