Teach her to shoot, while she has the interest. The rock, bow, atom bomb can come later.

Be thankful she is showing an interest. Straight to a .22 rifle, go for maintaining a positive attitude.

I started my son at 10 with .22 rifles. He's now going on 13 and a pretty good shot. At 12 he went through the Hunter Safety Class as required by the state and did very well on the test as well as on the range. No doubt in my mind that the lessons at home were of much more value than the few hours of instruction he recieved at the class.

As for rocks, she can learn that skill on her own, little instruction (other than "proper" target identification) is needed.

One of my friends who shot a guy's eye out with his BB gun said he'd never give his kid one - he'd go straight to .22s because kids _will_ play with BB guns but not with .22s. shrug - I see no reason to divide up the training. No reason she can't shoot a gun, throw a rock, and learn a bow and arrow at the same time.

If your daughter has expressed an interest in marksmanship, start with what she's interested in and see how long it lasts. At 10, it may be 15 minutes, then on to violin.

I'd make sure to add something to the mix that has a fun factor to it. Balloons with baby powder in them is the most obvious. Instant gratification/positive feedback....FUN FUN FUN.

10-year-olds could care less about ballistics, arc-of-travel, BLAH BLAH BLAH. They (either gender) like to see things go POP!!.

Skip the rocks.

Rule 1: DW is always right.

Rule 2: If you forget rule 1, you will be reminded of it forever.

That sounds like someone advising another man to surrender to his wife. If you surrender once, she'll expect it every time.

You say that like it's wrong.

That she'll expect it, that's not wrong, but just surrendering, I've seen to many men do it and live lives that were not as happy as the stubborn and onery guys who simply do not surrender. I'd also say that the wives of those stubborn and onery guys also seem to be happier than those wives to whom their husbands had surrendered. If her fury allows her to get her way, you'll simply see her fury more often, imo. IMO, if her fury does her no good, then you are likely to see it less.

That may be well askew of the original topic of this thread, but it may also be a real paradigm shift for some.