Building A Better Pinewood Derby Car With Science

My thoughts exactly.

Unfortunately, not all dads can stand to not make it better for the kids.

I worked with a bunch of engineers, building military satellites in the late 1970's & 80's. Some of these guys spent hours (at work)weighing, balancing and tweaking their kid's cars.

The kids didn't learn much.

There's nothing wrong with parents being involved as long as the child is involved too. This was our first year and we both enjoyed the project and he learned a lot. There was an appropriate division of labor where he drew the shape he wanted then traced it on the wood. I ran the band saw because his fingers are really cute and I want him to keep them. He is only seven. I also drilled the holes, poured the lead and covered the lead with wood plugs. He did the sanding and painting. We polished the axles together ,I held the drill, and he used the diamond file, emery cloth, and 600 grit sand paper on each nail. He mounted the wheels.

He was totally involved from beginning to end, even handling the transaction at the auto parts store for the graphite and sand paper. He learned a little about aerodynamics, friction, and how to use painter's tape to make racing stripes. I learned it's okay if the paint job is not perfect and the wheels are a little crooked. He won some and lost some, but had every right to be proud of his car.

As the years progress he will not want or need my assistance, but that's the way it should be. Till then, I will take every opportunity to teach him everything that I can.

I think you handle this as well as one could and your concerns for a 7 yr old's safety are warranted and prudent. You're not the "parent" I am referring to.

But on the other hand, I believe that "inflation" of expectations is such that it requires fairly significant adult involvement. I would be happy to see rough sawn and poorly sanded cars, paint jobs consisting of 64 Crayola colors and so on.

I believe as a society, we need to back off the kids. Organized sports is the major culprit in the destruction of childhood. Kids have been overscheduled in this competitive environment where kids can't just go and play because of music lessons, sports, debate club, scouting, dance, 'volunteering', and all that other crap to build a 'resume' for college.

Our four kids did a little of all of the above but we did not succumb to the mantra of "SuperKid" does it all. We didn't have any class valedictorians, no sports scholarships, very little in the way of academic scholarships, but our children had the opportunity to just be kids.

I agree. Kids need to have time to be kids. Remember recess in elementary school? They now get about 15 minutes a day here, and only if the weather is perfect. I had morning, lunch, and afternoon recesses totaling 80 minutes. But I guess "SuperKids" don't need recess with that potent Ritalin prescription. If they ever say anything about my son's high energy being a problem, I'm going to ask his pediatrician to prescribe recess. We'll see how that works out.

My son sure could have used the kind of recess I grew up with when he was in school.

They pushed us hard to put him on meds from 3rd grade on, primarily from younger, female teachers who never (yet) raised a son. The older teachers who had raised boys had no problem with him or his 'behaviors'. (They knew what to ignore and what to address.)

For a couple of years (8th, 9th grade) we put him on some. He said it did help him concentrate, at least at first. Then he said he wanted to stop taking them and we were fine with that. He did manage to graduate, but sitting in a class, learning about stuff that he had no interest in or use for was hard. He is a very successful mechanic now. (He did the Pinewood racer thing in Cubs too. He never won, as I provided guidance and advice but kept my hands off the thing. Not that I didn't have the urge mind you.)