Advise on starting em young

[Pete J.]

My son is now twenty and has moved past modeling for now. In many respects he is like me and I expect that he will come back to the hobby at some point. It really doesn't matter if the hobby is gone by then, I have enough models accumulated for him and I to build for the rest of our combined lives. But the point is this.

I started him with something I liked and almost lost him. I had to let him experiment. His first build was a car which was at Dads insistence. Kind of like "Snake Bite" He lost interest easily but he got through it. Took second as a Tamiya/con winner, which kind of set the hook.

He played around with a couple of car models but never got to far with them. Tried airplanes, but couldn't hold his interest either. Then I brought home a Gundam! He had played with transformer toys since he was small and now he could build and paint his own. Man did his interest take off. We have a box of Gundams, mostly broken from playing, but I didn't much care. He was building and having a good time. Just a thought, take your child along and see where their imagination takes them in the hobby story and don't say know(unless they pick up a $200 master grade Gundam). We all want to have them share our interest. It is more important for us to share theirs.

Pete J>

[Jantrix]

I think we all did something similar as teens. My Dad started me on cars, because thats what he was into as a kid. I also tried planes, helicopters and everything else. I had Frankenstein and Wolfman with glowing hands on my dresser. But I eventually came back to cars and been here ever since and will always be. My oldest is the only one of my two sons that is a builder. Like my Dad, I started him on cars. but he's trying new stuff now too. He's got a helicopter kit and is sweating those teenie little parts .

However it's tough to compete against the lure of 24hr cartoon/anime/manga television. He builds like a madman when he's grounded, but hardly touches them otherwise.

[HotRodaSaurus]

Kids are like that though these days,My son loved action films,so I showed him some old Bruce Lee films. The other guys, Arnie, Van Damm, Cynthia Roth Rock,etc are all big action films and can be realexiting. I know Arnie isnt exactly into martial arts but you guys know what I mean. With Bruce Lee though the emphasis is on the Kung Fu etc. After watching the Nunchuk scenes he was spellbound and took up Karate.

Not just a 5 minute wonder, he started at 8 years old and carried on, winning trophies and came 4th in the junior world championships.

Well he is 19 now and has taken a breather as he has discoverd other things like partying and girls. He also did a bit of modeling, building a Flying Fortress bomber a couple of fighters but his favourite thing was a box of 1/25 parts and a couple of my old builds. He glued this bit to that bit to make some crazy designs. Again this is on the back burner now but I am sure that when he has nothing to do or is just bored he may take up Karate again and with a bit of luck get back into modeling.

John

[FloridaBoy]

Remember that old Harry Chapin song, "My Son Grown Up Just Lke Me?" Kevin is 20, and I was there every day, and never showed him nastiness, but was always supportive. My discipline came with consequences and calmly telling him that he needs to chill out, and his behavior and'or character was lacking. Spanking or other forms of punishment only took him to a level of terror and fear of me, so at a very early age, I stopped yelling and screaming at my kids, and took time to give them positive and negative reinforcement.

My kids became not like me, but like themselves, very individual, although the general pursuits were similar, our tastes in movies, cars, people, behaviors, type of people, books etc etc was definitely theirs.

My other philosophy was to respond to an interest with support, and not force or coerce or manipulate them. So when Kevin decided to build a model car, he didn't like the selection I made, and instead built a Tamiya Lamborghini Countach, painted it black and it came out great and we displayed it. My daughter didn't like my art, so she pursued her own, plus dance, plus other activities and my wife and I were there. I watched so many unhappy kids trying to please their Dads by being like them. I learned that lesson. The only unfortunate thing was when they lost interest, I was just getting into it, then felt lost when they went into another direction. The only thing we differed greatly was music - they like Rap, and I like Doo Wop.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

[ford56]

As I read this thread all of the posts are words of wisdom. I especially resonate with Floridaboy. In my generation model building was a part of growing up. I have an 8 yr old son that I introduced to car modeling (where my passion lies) but he gravitated towards airplanes. I did not discourage this and now he is into star wars and the snap kits of that genre. He will do a car theme snap kit occasionally but the point is that each of us develop are own likes and dislikes as we grow. Hopefully after he sows his wild oats he will come back to modeling because I sure am accumulating a substantial kit collection for him, and hopefully his children to build.