To think aged 2 is far too young for this archery kit

[gollyimholly]

DH has bought this archery kit that he wants to teach DD with. She is 2! DH taught archery to beginners when he was in secondary school (but I'm pretty sure not to two year olds!)

AIBU that two years old is also just too young to learn archery? DH says they will only ever use the kit together and DD will always be supervised. But I feel like if we say to DD that this is something she can touch, if she ever does come across the kit on her own she will think it is OK to touch when it is in actual fact dangerous. For example, I wouldn't teach her to light a match because she is just too young. Similarly I think she is just too young for archery. AIBU?

Ps. This is the exact kit he bought and the safety information that comes with it

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/discovery-100-archery-set/_/R-p-302265
/!\ Never leave a bow in the hands of a child that is not under constant supervision.
Store the bow and arrows out of reach
/!\ Never shoot an arrow in the air, it can travel hundreds of metres
/!\ Never aim at: a person or animal, the shooting range must be clear
/!\ Inspect your arrow before each shot to ensure that it is in good condition and remove your arrows when no one is behind you.
/!\ Failure to follow safety instructions can lead to FATAL INJURIES

Ridiculous and irresponsible!

1.35m bow! The lower limb tip will be on the ground and no 2yo will be able to hold this level to draw. Not that she will be able to pull a 20lb draw weigh.

My first bow was 32lb and I was mid 30s when I started.

If the specifications are to be believed, that's a bow with a draw weight of 20lbs and pointy arrows - it's far too big for a 2 year old and she wouldn't be able to draw it back.

Ignore that though, your husband is fucking insane. 20lbs with pointy arrows is more than enough to cause significant harm. That's the kind of draw weight adult beginners start with.

Steel tipped arrows! A 2 year old. Good grief!

This is the appropriate style for that age:

https://smallkins.com/products/vilac-bow-and-3-arrows-vil2919?variant=47232464683254&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17048705694&gbraid=0AAAAAChfusDU_dRBWkHDx5gB1-qEjfzA3&gclid=CjwKCAjwiezABhBZEiwAEbTPGEw3f-p_zwImSgdTmBk4yYH3OQersDdsRdvc_PvY5M5ISOqv0ERhCRoCXQ8QAvD_BwE

How is she with knives? If she is responsible with a carving knife when you let her play with it then maybe she's responsible enough to play with other lethal weapons.

I'm barely 5ft so the bow would be the best part of my height!

So bow too big, arrows too heavy, unwieldly & long?

Not to mention steel tipped.

Who is it for?

Way too big for a 2 year old and steel tipped arrows also a massive no for a 2 year old. DD started using blunts, followed by steel tipped arrows with a 10lb draw weight bow when she was about 6. (She may have had a couple of goes aged about 4 but very closely supervised, think 2 on 1 supervision).

She's 11 now and has a 22lb pull recurve bow, but she only got that once she'd demonstrated that she understood how to use it safely and how to behave safely on the range, and was strong enough to handle that draw weight.

There's plenty of time for him to teach her archery. For now, a toy set with pompoms or suckers on the end will be plenty to let her play and develop an interest until she's ready to move up.

Why not go the whole hog and take her axe throwing?? 🙄 🙄 What was he thinking??!!

Absurd. She won’t be able to use it. But she will in a few years and it can be got out from the cupboard then. Probably around the time that airguns are introduced.
Great childhood, just like mine was. Well done dad!

I'm a beaver leader (6-8 yr old scouts) tomahawks are definitely safer than archery. This bow isn't suitable until age 10ish with a 20lb draw weight there isn't any way that a small child would be able to use it. Age 6 a 10lb rolan snake bow is tricky enough for the beavers to use as a have a go at archery session. The coordination they need to be able to nock an arrow while holding the bow and ensuring that the bow isn't upside down is hard enough and some need finger tabs too as it is hard on the fingers as they don't have hardened skin. Tomahawks are much simpler, don't travel as far and the most likely injury would be from them dropping the hawk on their foot. Most 6 year olds when told don't hold this bit it's sharp would listen

Too young!
Decathlon do a rubber archery set. While it's still too old for a 2-year-old, it's safer than the one you attached.

This. I think it’s also absolutely fine as long as she is constantly supervised and the kit is stored securely away somewhere that she won’t just “come across”. Which it should be anyway with children in the house.

Teaching children how to use dangerous things safely is more important than just keeping all dangerous things away from them. Much more likely to cause issues if they come across something unsupervised they’ve never seen/used before or is something they’ve seen but nit been allowed to touch (and therefore forbidden fruit!!) than if they used something and been taught that it can be dangerous and learnt all the relevant safety rules.

I was six I think, we learned at school as one of our teachers was a very skilled archer. At that age it was a struggle to draw the bow and most kids needed help, not a lot of the lesson involved actually shooting arrows it was mostly watching and learning safety and how to do various things so when we were string enough we had a clue (and I suspect our teacher had time to weed out the totally unsuitable kids!).

2 is too little to use that bow, but possibly not too little to show interest, learn safety, get familiar handling stuff. He'll realise.

I don't think it's unsafe to have in the house, it'll never be strung unless in use, and she won't be able to string the bow until 9+ . The arrows.. well they aren't sharper than kitchen knives, skewers, knitting needles etc that you may have and almost certainly simply store out of reach not keep under lock and key.

Mine had a similar kit around age 7.They loved it.2 is too young to be able to use it so your DH won't get very far teaching her but maybe he was excited as it's his hobby so bought it too early.She will be ready for it in about 5 years time!I doubt she's going to be going around using it unsupervised now though so I wouldn't be bothered about having it in the house.

Aside from safety concerns, a 2 year old is simply not physically capable of pulling back a 20lb bow.

Get her a toy set with suction cups and even then it needs to be treated with respect.

A 20lb bow is light by adult standards but at shorter distances is still capable of seriously injuring or killing someone. Someone who has done a bit of archery at school has no business letting a 2 year old use one.

She won't be able to do it, she's far too young for that, the bow will be the height of her. Your Dh is being silly and needs to wait a few years.

But I disagree about not letting her do things under supervision that she can't do alone. My ds was using knives, tools or fire under strict supervision at that age that he knew he was never allowed to touch without an adult. It is an important part of learning. The adult just has to ensure they emphasise the rules and they put the items out of reach.

This explains more https://www.greenwaysforestschool.com/post/the-importance-of-tool-use-at-forest-school

Hell no!

Agree with what others have said, yes she's too young and she won't even be able to hold the bow.
My son is interested in archery and we got him this set from decathlon, and the recommended age for this is 8 upwards.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/softarchery-archery-set-100/_/R-p-302266?mc=8867347&c=ultra%20white

Absolutely too young. Would maybe do with a kid toy set with the sucker pop type arrows which are not going to do any major harm but not this!

But she isn't going to be able to do any harm with it... as she won't be capable of drawing it or stringing it.

Its a big fat waste of his money as her attention span will be short and even shorter when she realises its something she can't actually do, just watch Daddy do... but thats his error to learn.

Seriously???? What a brainless, stupid irresponsible jerk! Not to mention waste of money……..by the time techies is old enough to fully appreciate it she will have lost most of the pieces

I thought that as we have the same sucker tip set from Decathlon and it has the same target, but this is actually a set with steel tipped arrows! If it was suckers it would be ok but this set is not that.