My yougest daughter (8 years), Megan, wanted to demonstrate to her class how to build a model train. No, I didn’t push her into it - she came to me with the idea. I went to the LHS and bought a couple of Athearn Bay Window cabooses (blue box) and we practiced putting together one last night and she demonstrated on the other kit to her class today. It was a lot of fun - she put on one of the trucks upside down but who cares
She and I are going to work on a simple layout over the summer vacation.
Sean, good for you. What a great way to enjoy the hobby with your kid. Now let her loose with some ink wash and weathering powders to get the full impact out of the project!
My son is almost 2 and all he wants to do is watch Polar Express, view my screen saver (photographs of trains I’ve taken), see real trains, and have da’da set up the loop and run trains. My wife is going crazy that I’ve brainwashed my son about trains. I’m loving every minute of it, and I hope that it never goes away. And if my next child is a girl, then I will brainwash her too, then we’ll see what mom has to say. I best be careful or I’ll be alone with two kids. Mom will come around someday. She does go with us on Sundays to the UP tracks in Pomona.
Zak, that’s how my father did to me. He always let me drive the trains, look at MR and other magazines. He also asked me everytime he was going to one of the other members of the round robin club he goes to if I wanted to come. First last autumn I joined in and I haven’t regret it since.
I live with my in-laws right now until our house is built, and it gets pretty hectic around in the evenings with TVs on, dishes being cleaned, and things being picked up that my son sometimes doesn’t get to bed until 10 or 11. So now I take him in the other room around 9 and read him articles out of TRAINS Magazine (his request). It seems to do the trick on getting him ready for bed earlier. Plus it gives me an excuse to read the magazine. They say reading to your children is vital in their young lives, they didn’t say what though.