Building pinewood derby cars has been a wonderful time of bonding with my boys, and something that I have come to look forward to every year. My philosophy is very simple - any car that is built should be built (as much as possible) by the boys themselves. Every year, we face up against dads who obviously do most, if not all, of the work - which bothers me to no end. By designing and souping up cars to "win," they rob their boys of the rewards of learning skills, managing trial and error, and just the simple pride of doing their own work. It creates an unfair advantage against those boys who are trying to develop their own craftsman skills. Eight, nine and ten-year olds should not have to compete against grown men for derby success.
Instead, my approach with my oldest - which I will repeat with my youngest - is to have them design their own cars on paper, and do as much of the labor as possible in shaping the nondescript block of wood into a car for competition. From cutting with the coping saw, to the hard work of sanding by hand, polishing the axles, to the final painting - the more the scout does himself, they more he will gain from the experience. I obviously offer tips, suggest ideas, and manage the power tools (drilling insets to hold weights, and using the Dremel to do finer points and carving) - but with each successive year, I try to do less and less and let them do more and more. This year, my oldest did almost everything on his car except the drilling. (If I owned a drill press, I would have let him do that part too, but that remains on the daddy wish list for the future). I also assisted him with a tough alignment problem. As for my youngest, this being his first car, he was only able to do the design, some of the cutting, some of the sanding, and all the painting. But he put in the effort, and he deserves to be proud regardless of the results later tonight. Besides, he has four more years after this one.
Still, for me, there is some anxiety. Any parent wants their children to be able to taste success and victory. Of course I want my boys to do well in tonight's race, and truly experience reward for their labor (which is why I get so frustrated when dad-built cars always seem to win the night). It is hard, too, especially when I know that there are things I could have done myself to improve the product my boys have built. But to follow through on that temptation would be to simply rob my boys of the pleasure (and possible disappointment) of their own efforts. I refuse to be like those other dads. But, I confess, I desperately want my oldest to experience a victory and get that 1st, 2nd or 3rd place trophy - but mostly because I know that he really, really wants to place in the top 3. My guess is that may not be likely tonight. But despite the outcome, he's built a good car, built it mostly by himself - and so whatever the result, he's earned the right to be proud of his work. And I am proud of him for it.
So, for now, we wait for the green flag. And when the final checkered flag falls, we will be content regardless of the result. And those results, along with pictures, will be posted here later.
Update 9:37pm: Well, the derby is over, and despite a good showing by both boys, neither car was quite fast enough to qualify for the district competition. My oldest came in 15th, with his younger brother coming in 17th out of a total of 45 racers. A solid performance to be sure, but just short of the hitting the top 10 (who all go to district). Below are a couple of photos of their cars:
I'm a proud dad, no doubt about it.
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