6 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

I was proud to learn you can easily recite the gun safety tips you learned in school. You had obviously paid close attention:

“Always keep the guns locked up. Never play with guns. Never point guns at people. Guns are for hunting animals…”

The way I found out you knew all this is when this week, you brought home a drawing. Taken out of context, your drawing could have seemed disturbing. But knowing that you drew this as a result of learning about the right way to use a gun, it quickly put things into perspective for me.

You drew yourself hunting deer- and successfully shooting one. And you definitely didn’t spare the blood.

Perhaps the impact of the bullet into the deer looks more like the result of a grenade exploding on the deer… but either way, you definitely know that guns are for hunting animals- not for playing with, not for pointing at other people, not for shooting other people.

I love how innocently you drew this picture. There you are, in the middle of the woods, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and with a big grin on your face.

Granted, Mommy discreetly asked you not to draw pictures with guns anymore; because even in the right context, like maybe if you drew a policeman or a soldier in the line of duty firing their gun at another person, it’s just too mature of a drawing for a 1^st grader.

Of course, I have to point out the irony of you drawing yourself shooting and killing a deer:

We are a vegetarian family. So the thought of hunting deer is a little bit ironic…

Yet still, if you truly wanted to learn how to hunt once you get older, I would be open-minded to helping you learn.

I appreciate your creativity.

Love,

Daddy