I just sent this little story off to the editor of our local newspaper. High River has had a few problems with the youth getting into mischeif and I thought this story might help out. Hope you guys like it.:hat off
Get Involved With Your Children
Some of my best childhood memories came from the time I spent with my father when I was in the Cub Scouts program. This was back in 1983 when I was 9 years old.
It was announced one night at the Cub Scout meeting that the Wolf Pack would be building Pine Cars and racing them down a long wooden track to compete for prizes. There was a short demonstration and everyone purchased a Kub Kar Kit, which included a square block of wood, plastic wheels and metal axels.
Since I was interested in classic racing cars of the past, my Dad and I agreed that we would turn the square block into a 1932 Bugatti race car.
My father and I worked on our pine car together every day after he returned home from work. Just a few short hours a night every day for a week, we carved, sanded and painted our pine car, anxiously awaiting the day of the big race. Would this car be the winner? We were hopeful, but unsure.
When we finished the car, there was still a good week left before the night of the race. My Dad had the idea that we should build another Pine Car and I choose the design. This time around, I decided on the 1911 Indy 500 winner, The Marmon Wasp. With only a week left before the race, we feverously built that car. With a final coat of red paint, a copper exhaust pipe off the side and a �?o31�?� number decal on the side of the car (For the 31st Capilano Wolf Pack), we were ready to enter this car.
Race night came and the Bugatti didn�?Tt do so well. However, after many �?oHeats�?� with the other cars of the Wolf Pack, the Marmon Wasp crossed the finish line in first place. We had won the winner�?Ts trophy!
Nowadays, the times have changed. The Pine Car Rally is no longer a �?oFather and Son�?� event as the Scout movement is now co-ed. This means that fathers can build the cars with daughters and mothers can join in the fun with their sons. Also, the Pine Car Rally is getting picked up by the church groups too, so it no longer is exclusive to the Scout Movement, like it was in 1983.
Why not get involved with your children in this amazing event? Build lasting memories together and just have fun. The great memories of the time I spent with my father back in 1983 will last my entire life. Will you do the same for your children?
I got this article printed in the High River Times by our editor and the Kub Scout group invited me to their rally this Saturday (Feb 11th 2012) as a vendor. I also get to make a special speech as to who I am and what I have, as a business.
I can’t emphasise getting involved with you kids enough. I look back on my childhood and think about how little my parents played with me once I was older and how distant we became (although not in a hating way, just no emotional connection)
I only just noticed this thread. I’m sure the timing was not coincidental. My friend and I helped his son on his own pine car for the third straight year.
I always figured that it was meant to be for each kid to work on the car by himself. But after the last two years, I just got tired of seeing the same old thing–a handful of kids have cars that will quickly leave the other ones behind to easily take first place in a race. You can tell which kids did the job on their own and which ones had help.
Anyway, this year we decided to give him a little help of his own. It wasn’t even that much. We basically took two tips that we found one youtube and applied them to his car, and we noticed immediate results. The same kid in his age group had come in first place easily for the last two years and was boasting how he’d win again. God, the look on his face when his name was called for the 2nd place trophy was priceless.
In the end, my friend’s son came in 1st in his age group (although barely), did well enough to place among the 8 fastest cars and was allowed to race in the finals, and he even won the best in show award. Credit for best in show goes entirely to him and his sister, since she came up with the idea and he did the painting and decals.
I’ve only painted a handful of miniatures per year in the past 5 years or so. When my son turned two, everything changed. Now he LOVES daddy time painting his dinosaurs while I paint my cultists. I’ve done 8 miniatures already in just a few months and having a blast with my kid at the same time. I have been able to get him really involved in art at a very early age because I am able to show that I enjoy this too, it’s not just for kids!
Probably one of the more common problems when kids grow up is when they are in a different direction or page as their parents are. And usually, you just have to stick with it and go on bids for things to change, which most often than note are actually useless.
So, it will really be important to start early. I mean, set it straight that you would give them time so that you could get well together.
Better let them see you are friends rather than those who antagonize them.
