Donald Trump Jr.'s latest Instagram post has people wondering if this activity is safe for kids
Donald Trump Jr. shared an Instagram slideshow of his 6-year-old son, Tristan, practicing archery on Saturday. In the video, Tristan shoots an arrow at a sandbag on the ground. Trump’s voice can be heard in the background praising his son’s shot. It looks like Tristan is already pretty good at the sport, but the video has some of Donald Jr.’s followers wondering how young is too young to be wielding a bow and arrow.
A post shared by Donald Trump Jr. (@donaldjtrumpjr) on Jun 30, 2018 at 5:50pm PDT
“How old is he @donaldjtrumpjr ? Can a 6 year old do the bow?,” one person commented on the post. The comments on the photo were mostly positive, though, with other people praising Trump for teaching his son about archery at a young age. One commenter even said they were teaching their 5-year-old granddaughter archery.
USA Archery recommends that kids start archery at age 8, according to Archery 360. Still, the site points out that the starting age for children and archery isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. So if a child like Tristan has a good attention span and can follow the proper safety procedures, he might be just fine starting archery at a younger age.
The Boy Scouts of America offers an archery merit badge, as long as age-appropriate recurve or compound bows are used, along with arrows with target points.
In a Reddit thread about how young is too young to start kids with archery, parents also shared tips for keeping youngsters safe. One suggested covering a children’s archery set with “foam balls and lots of tape.” Another suggested starting young ones out with things like Nerf products before graduating them to true bows and arrows. But based on Trump’s video, it looks like Tristan does know how to handle the equipment safely, and he’s a pretty good shot too.
Meanwhile, Trump faced backlash for a different reason when he tweeted out a link to the Instagram post. As he and his son played golf and practiced archery on Saturday, many people across the country joined “Families Belong Together” marches. So when Trump Jr. shared his post on the same day, some people tweeted at him about his father’s administration’s immigration policy, saying that he was lucky not to be separated from his children.
That is so sweet. It's nice to spend time with your kids, isn't it? Not have to worry about them being separated from you and never returned, What a privilege. Enjoy it while you can. Where you are going, you will only see them through plexiglass.
— Thaddeus Arjuna (@ThaddeusArjuna) July 1, 2018
So wonderful that you were able to spend time with your child today while your father had thousands of other people's kids locked in cages. They have been without their parents for weeks. You do know that toddlers are being forced to appear in COURT byTHEMSELF, right?
— Jan Nickerson (@MVYRD) July 1, 2018
I’m so glad he’s not in a cage wondering if you abandoned him. Hope you had fun!
— Gina (@Kiowasundancer) July 1, 2018
Donald Trump Jr. is a longtime hunter, and we have no doubt he is teaching his son how to handle the bow safely. Trump found himself at the center of controversy in 2012 when photos of him and his brother Eric Trump posing with various dead animals were published by the Daily Mail. Trump defended himself on Twitter, writing, “I’m not going to run and hide because the peta crazies don’t like me.” The photos were controversial, but they do show that Trump knows a lot about hunting. It seems safe to say that Tristan is safe practicing archery, especially with his dad by his side.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
• Donald Trump Jr. made it official with Kimberly Guilfoyle — and people aren’t happy
• Rachel Maddow brought to tears when reading report on Immigrant babies entering ‘tender age’ shelters
• Tomi Lahren calls border patrol agents ‘humanitarians’ as 2,000 children are taken from their parents
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
