How much can they do

General discussions for car and semi-truck racers.
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10range
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How much can they do

Post by 10range »

Our church has been running an Awana Grand Prix for the last five years but for me this year will be different because my son will be racing for the first time. This is his first year in Cubbies and will turn 4 in April.

With this being his first year racing his own car my question becomes, how much work should I expect him to do and how much input do you as a parent give on the building process. I want him to have fun both building the car and during the race but I don't want his car to beat another child who has done more of the actual work on their car. In past years the race has not been super competitive so a car with any speed can do well.

Each year our church combines with another church to run an adult race a couple months before the kids race. Last year for my build I had him watch as I built my car and he really enjoyed that. This year we have already started the build process for his car. He choose the design for the car, he helped me glue up the pieces, I cut out and shaped the basic design with power tools. My plan is to have him help sand and maybe paint (don't tell my wife that he may get to help with spray paint).

I guess my question is to some degree an ethical question about how much I show him and how much we do to his car to make it fast. Based on past years, I have not doubt that we could have a top 2-3 car without any problem but I want that to happen because of him, not because of my input. I also want this to be a teaching time for him to learn. To be honest, the best part of the race is the build process and seeing how excited he gets when we work on his car.

Any thoughts from those of you who have experience building cars with kids this age? Suggestions?
J.Stein
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Re: How much can they do

Post by J.Stein »

Everyone is different but here was my son's first year.

My son:
1. Told me what the block should look like (I did the cutting and dremeling).
2. Sanded the body
3. Sprayed painted the car with dad tutoring
4. Polished the axles while dad ran the hand drill
5. Polished wheels and hubs while dad ran the hand drill.

Those are all things that "kid's hands" can do with a parent guiding and teaching them.

I used the hand-lathe tool on the wheels to true them, set the axles, and set the COM and placed the weights. We didn't even know how to rail-ride then and still came in second in the Pack.
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Darin McGrew
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Re: How much can they do

Post by Darin McGrew »

There are a couple things that only adults are allowed to do at our workshops: use the bandsaws and work with molten weight.

Other than that, we encourage kids to be involved in everything. Being involved doesn't mean they have to do it alone though, and the "hands over hands" technique is great for a lot of steps in the process. Besides, the goal is for kids to work on a project with their parents (or other trusted adults).

If I had to define a limit, I'd say that if the kid stops working, then the adult should also stop working. For adults who want to work on cars alone, without involving a kid in the work, we have the All Comers race.
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Re: How much can they do

Post by rpcarpe »

That's almost exactly how we do it at all our workshops too. Come to think of it, I probably got the idea from Darin!

We encourage the kids to do as much as possible, and it varies from kid-to-kid and within families.
My wife started a new support group... Widows of the Pinewood Derby.
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FatSebastian
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Re: How much can they do

Post by FatSebastian »

10range wrote:Any thoughts from those of you who have experience building cars with kids this age?
MaxV's pamphlet includes an excellent summary of age-appropriate building activity. It originates from Randy Worcester of "The Ultimate Pinewood Derby Site" fame (now defunct). There are related topics on DT; this survey is one I recall well, and here is another that describes this as a "moral dilemma". :nervous:

I do not think it is unethical to instruct a child on how to make a fast car; that is how they learn. As far as how much they do v. the adult helper, my general feeling is that a child should do as much as he is able.
10range
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Re: How much can they do

Post by 10range »

FatSebastian wrote:
10range wrote:Any thoughts from those of you who have experience building cars with kids this age?
MaxV's pamphlet includes an excellent summary of age-appropriate building activity. It originates from Randy Worcester of "The Ultimate Pinewood Derby Site" fame (now defunct). There are related topics on DT; this survey is one I recall well, and here is another that may be helpful.

I do not think it is unethical to instruct a child on how to make a fast car; that is how they learn. As far as how much they do v. the adult helper, my general feeling is that a child should do as much as he is able.
Thanks for the feedback. He is still young enough that most of the power tools are out of his ability at this point but what we have been doing is learning how to be safe around power tools. He got a kit of toy power tools for Christmas and loves to get them out whenever I am using similar tools so this has been a great chance to help him learn about how to use tools.
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FatSebastian
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Re: How much can they do

Post by FatSebastian »

Also, here is a post which contains info generally aligned with Randy Worcester's advice. Look under "How much should I do, how much should I expect my son to do?"
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