ScottM-Sonex1629 wrote:I was thinking we should talk on how to interest and involve our sons.
Scott,
I thought I would resurrect this thread as it really has most of my answers. It may not have the answer on how to get your 11 year old interested, but I think it is the story of how I got Adam interested. I started them off early, anything with tools in their hands. Kids like saws, drills, and stuff like that. Mostly I strove to keep any of the hands on stuff fun, and kept my own need for high workmanship out of it. Here is some fun stuff we did with flashing and pop rivets - this was a Star Wars super tank. First the drilling and clecoes:
- Adam with clecoes.jpg (60.43 KiB) Viewed 7429 times
Then the pops:
- Adam with pop rivet gun.jpg (60.2 KiB) Viewed 7429 times
It was a hard thing for us all when Sikorsky closed the facility in Horseheads, NY. Everybody needed something to look forward to. For Adam the loft bed was a huge deal. We found plans on the internet, bought a bunch of oak, and had at it. Most of the work was his, and he had the motivation that it was the bed he wanted. It took us a couple months. I also let him make some of his own mistakes. None of them were really that bad and you look at the bed now, it is awesome. Totally unrelated to airplanes - but gave him that confidence of building and tackling a big project.
Starting out on the Waiex, there was no way he could match my workmanship. I've been doing this for decades and he was a kid just starting. We took the time to get his workmanship good enough, and let him start making some accomplishments. Didn't matter how long it took. It was time well spent. I know someday his workmanship will leave me in the dust. The key thing is he knows we will both make mistakes, we will recover from them and it is not a big deal.
Sometimes he is not interested in going to the hangar. That is OK. Hot and cold spells are part of the game. I would never force him and made sure he knows that if he is not into it that we don't have to go.
Back when I started taking the kids flying, there was a rule that when they were done, we were done no questions asked. Mostly I took them in the gliders. Some days they never wanted to come down. Some days 10 minutes after getting off tow they were done - down we came.
So far, with Adam I got lucky with respect to the Waiex. He likes it. He is good at the building. My 11 year old, Matthew, has not been interested in the Waiex. He has his other things he wants to work on, and that is what we do. Maybe someday he will get into aviation and building, and maybe not. I am ok either way. All I really want is for my kids to find out what it is they like so they can pursue it.
I started Matthew early too. Here he is squashing some rivets.
- MKC squeezing rivet.jpg (66.71 KiB) Viewed 7429 times
My formula: Give them the opportunity and the choice. Whatever they choose, make it fun.
I don't have the loft bed pictures handy, but I will post them here sometime.
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:52 pm