Georgia, my oldest (at 6½) doesn't like shopping at all. Any time my wife goes shopping, Georgia looks for excuses to not go. That, and she loves asparagus. I don't think she's human.
Today was no different. I'm heading out to Tenoroc with Greg to do a little sporting clays and because I'm not going to be here, the girls will have to go shopping with mama. Georgia absolutely didn't want to go and when I jokingly told her she could go with me, she jumped on the opportunity (don't worry Greg, I talked her out of it for this time. She wants to go with Mommy and Daddy, soon).
I explained it would be hot, loud, long, and very little to do, and she still wanted to go. Georgia has been to the indoor range with me before when she was 5 and could take it or leave it. She didn't want to go inside, she just sat outside and watched. She's shown no interest in shooting anything, including the air rifle, and I've not pushed it at all.
Today, that changed. She asked to shoot in the back yard. I thought I was going to break my leg running to get the gear.
First things first, of course – we went over safety. She remembered the 4 rules (if somewhat contracted) all on her own. We went outside and I went over the basic nomenclature of the rifle; muzzle, trigger, stock, barrel, and scope. I broke open the action, pumped it (sans pellet), and pulled the trigger so she could here the 'pop'. It didn't scare her. I did it again, no pellet, and asked her "Did Daddy put a pellet in?" - "No" - "Is it loaded?" - "Yes". Thought I was going to rip a cheek muscle smiling so hard.
I let her take a few shots without the pellet. She's still too small to hold the rifle by herself, so I helped. I loaded a pellet in and took a shot myself, showing her how the little hole shows up on the paper. Then I loaded one for her and let her take a shot.
Success. She was ecstatic that she hit the target! Unfortunately at that point, my camera-wife had a fire ant issue which freaked Georgia out, so one shot was all we did, but a small step in what's hopefully a long life of enjoying what it means to be a free citizen.