The Pinewood Derby...

Part of the Pinewood Derby is that the boys are supposed to do most of the work on their cars themselves. Parental help is supposed to be kept to a minimum. Looking at the cars, I can tell that the majority of these boys (most of them are 8 or 9 years old) had their Dad's do most of the work. I am proud of #1 and #2 for doing most of the work themselves. D only did the drilling to put in the weights, and helped them put the wheels on. They designed, sawed, sanded and painted themselves (our cars are in the middle. #2's is the blue and green one, and #1's is the gold and pink one).

Here is a shot of #1 and #2 just before their cars raced each other.

I know that Pinewood Derby racing is a lot of fun for the boys, but I feel like too many of the parents interfere. Our boys' cars were actually doing pretty well when a well meaning adult decided to take pity on some of the other boys whose cars were not doing well. They put graphite on the wheels of the losing cars, and some of those boys ended up placing in the top three. I was also disappointed that the boys that placed in the top three were rewarded with a large back of M&Ms and all the other boys got a regular sized candy bar. I think that it made the boys whose cars were not as fast feel bad. I think awarding the ribbons for first place and such is fine, but giving them a bag of candy five times as big as the other boys got took a lot of the fun out of it for the other boys, and I thought fun was what it was really supposed to be about.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh, geez, that Pikachu (however you spell it) one has Dad written all over it. They didn't even attempt to mask it!
9:46 AM
SoDak Angel said…
My brothers and I grew up without a father figure, and their cars always looked like they did put them together themselves...and they always got shown up by some flashy car,you know the kid didn't even get to choose the colors on. I think they should have the grown ups make their own, and the kids make their own....then race their own child....that way, they know what it feels like to crush their own child, and perhaps they could lay off the building to collapse other kids cars.
10:44 AM
J-Dog said…
Yes, someone should yell at them for the Candy Thing.
2:41 PM
Sarah said…
That's too bad that the adults can't keep their competitive selves out of the competition. The graphite thing really stink to have happened mid-competition.

Your boys look pretty happy though - I hope it was a good experience for them regardless. I LOVE pinewood derby cars. So classic.
3:47 AM
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