Help me help my son-short draw

[NewtoTrad2008]

My son won a bow last year and is scared to pull to full draw, he is six and I don't want to presure him and take the fun out of shooting. Any ideas on how to get him confortable getting to full draw. He is not over bowed, just scared. Any ideas are welcome. Thanks

[bornagainbowhunter]

Is he afraid that the string will hurt him or the arrow when it leaves?

I used to help my sons draw their bow by holding their arms at the wrist.  I would let them hold the bow and string, but help them with draw the weight of the bow and it helped them find an anchor.  It made the bow feel super smooth to them also.  

You might try that, but if it makes him uncomfortable for the string and arrow to be around his face, I would not force it on him.  If so, I would just let him shoot around the yard.  When he is ready, he will come to full draw.  

Always remember, this is just for fun.

[Toklat1]

Yes don't pressure him into something he doesn't want to do, He may lose interest! Has he had the string slap his arm that you know of? Maybe that happened and he's a little skittish. My nephew was like that when I put a bow in his hand at 5. I just let him get comfortable with how he did it and went from there. He did start pulling it back to full draw later on when he was ready.'

[reddogge]

I taught 4 grandkids to shoot and with each I had to spend quite a bit of time with the bow in their hand pretending to draw and having the string hand come to the area around the mouth. They weren't actually pulling the bow back but pantomining the action. I'd then tell them to draw farther, hold up the bow arm, etc. until they had it.

Then when I put an arrow on the string and had them pull it back they had an idea of where to pull it.  A little coaching finished it off from there.  Maybe try that trick.

[NewtoTrad2008]

Sorry I left out an important detail, he did have a feather catch his finger and gave him a little cut, but scared him pretty good. I gave hime a glove to protect his bow hand and made up some different arrows. I defintly don't want to presure him.
Great ideas, thanks and keep them coming.

[Toklat1]

He'll come around eventually. let it be all about fun right now.

[BobCo 1965]

What you want to do is to set short term achievable but challenging goals for him. Never set anything that is out of reach or too difficult. When the goal is reached, a reward is given.

At this point, fun, and a few rewards should be enough to motivate him, which from your point of view should be your number one goal. Be patient with him, you'll need it when teaching youngsters.  :p  

In order to get him to full draw, forget about the bow. Teach him the basics without it or with a theraband (surgical tubing), and reward him for his accomplishments. At a certain point he will be able to transfer what he has learned to his bow.

[Ragnarok Forge]

I spent last saturday helping 100 kids shoot their first bows at the national outdoor event day that was held here in Vancouver.  I found that helping the kids draw and showing them to touch their finger to the corner of their mouth worked great.  

Definately don't push.  All of the kids had a blast and quite a few of them were afraid of the bows until they fired them a couple times.  Then it was all smiles and shooting.