We had our first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby a couple of weeks ago. After a lot of fear and trepidation on the part of Carden's parents who have no power tools, no engineering knowledge, and no wood-working skills, we discovered the one skill our Silicon Valley days gave us: We know how to outsource.
So with the enthusiastic help of John, one of the older men in the ward, who possessed both tools and a background in auto body work, Carden's car was born.
Beyond Carden's input on color and design ("I want FLAMES!") I'm sad to say it was mostly Carden watching John. Or Carden riding his bike around the driveway while John sanded, sculpted, and shaped. Once in a while I would force him to sit down and help, or at least watch. But Carden is interested in the product, not the process, and I was torn between making it his project and not coming in last at the big race. Tyler had a more realistic outlook: "Kristen, no kid makes his car. It's all about the dads."
The night before the race, Carden discovered a broken Star Wars figure that he wanted to glue in the driver's seat, and then he wanted to put stickers with his initials on. Tyler was sure I'd destroyed the beautiful minimalist paint job just to spite him, but it was all Carden's idea, and something had to look like the brainchild of an 8 year old.
In the end, it was a great night. I'm not sure how they arranged the heats, but the boys were rotated so that sometimes they won, and sometimes they lost, yet they still came up with an overall winner of the night. Carden had a fantastic time, and we only have to do this until 2015.
2 comments:
Love this post. Only until 2015...not bad! :)
And Mike challenges Tyler's statement. He said beyond helping with the cutting, his dad played a minimal role in pinewood derby prep. But my brother definitely belonged to the outsourcing school of pinewood derby car-making.
All Pine Wood Derbies are fixed.
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