Looking for suggestions

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:07 pm

Ed,

I appreciate your ideas and concerns. I love having kids visit my shop. My Granddaughter loves the tools and the projects we do together. Over the last couple of weeks we turned and assembled a salt and pepper grinder set for her Mom. There are still tools she is nervous about using (oddly enough the same ones I worry about her using). Truth be known Grandpa and a woodworking shop are a magnet too strong for a boy that age to resist. If you want to see what might be best, call him and ask if he would like to help you make something. If nothing else during his visit you will discover his level of interest, in what areas he is interested and whether or not your idea is sound. Good luck. Fjimp

rpd · Post by **rpd** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:30 pm

I am not sure how old your grandchild is but perhaps a different type of kit may be appropriate. IE a tool kit.

When my daughter was in her mid teens, and thinking ahead to when she would move out on her own, she asked for "tools" one Christmas.

We got her and her older stepsister each a basic kit, (tool box, screwdriver, tape measure, square, pencil, small socket set, drill, jigsaw, hammer, torpedo level, a small assortment of screws, nails, picture hooks, etc.).

They were both thrilled and years later they still have them and use them.

Why not have your project be a wooden tool box that you and he make together and give him a few age and skill appropriate hand tools to go in it. Then you can add to it for future birthdays and Christmases.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:55 pm

Of course we have very little idea of his interest, dreams, capabilities or aspirations and it would be impossible for you to tell us.

All we can do is throw wildly varied ideas against the wall and see if any of them stick.

I have a very nice quiet 15 year old grandson (our son's) that lives just down the road at the north end of the farm (maybe 1,000 ft.) who comes here every evening after school and any other time he can. He is a good kid but he is a "gamer" and we have had little luck in widening his interest very much. He does help carry in firewood and does like to climb a tree now and then. He does have a fairly large knife and sword collection. It would do little good for me to drag him into the shop and try to force an interest. I do believe that he has a passing interest in model trains. He has one still in the boxes because their house has been a construction zone for several years now (approaching finished fairly soon). Our son also has several train sets packed away for much the same reason. A nice train layout has been on my "Bucket list" for a little over 60 years now and I have thought that maybe now would be a good time to start one. Maybe if I start one I can suck both my son and grandson into it as a project. Model railroading can involve a lot of woodworking and can grow with interest and as one of my good neighbors will attest can keep some folks very interested well into retirement.

I have building space available with a little remodeling. I once considered putting one in a corner of the woodshop but it would be very hard to keep the dust under control.
Just a thought.
I'll bet there are a good number of model train guys on this forum.

.

greitz · Post by **greitz** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:11 pm

pencil made from a twig. Needs a pocketknife and a hand drill. Could make a pen instead if you use the half-size pen refills used for a "teacher's pen" (Penn State Industries). The most fun part might be traipsing around in the woods to find a nice-looking twig!

http://boyslife.org/hobbies-projects/pr ... ite-stuff/

Gary

mrhart · Post by **mrhart** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:13 pm

Very nice input from everyone... I can't add much but as 47 year old with 5 grandkids and 1 more on order, we've had alot of kids (hers mine and ours) and their friends pass through the house and their interests all vary so much and then those interests change over time. You may not be able to pinpoint his lifelong hobby this year, but exposure to as many things as you can I think is more valuable. He and you will be able to see what clicks when you find the right interest or hobby. But, he will never forget what types of things you exposed him to.
One day 20 years from now, he might be on the forum here recalling how he made his first widget on his grandpas SS, and even though he wan't that excited back then, how excited he is to find an old 510 like he had, and just beginning his woodworking hobby.

ehh 2 cents..

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:05 pm

At 13 I was busy building model airplanes. The stick/balsa wood kind that were powered with a rubber band. Also got a small gasoline engine for Christmas and a small airplane kit that flew on a control line. The stabilizer had a bell crank that allowed me to fly it up or down- and land it.

Another toy I really enjoyed was a steam engine. Not much practical use found, but it was sure fun to run!

Maybe in Fla. a small radio controled boat kit would be fun.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:17 pm

charlese wrote:At 13 I was busy building model airplanes. The stick/balsa wood kind that were powered with a rubber band. Also got a small gasoline engine for Christmas and a small airplane kit that flew on a control line. The stabilizer had a bell crank that allowed me to fly it up or down- and land it.

Another toy I really enjoyed was a steam engine. Not much practical use found, but it was sure fun to run!

Maybe in Fla. a small radio controled boat kit would be fun.

Charles that is where my thinking is going now. He is taking pilot training so he might enjoy an airplane.

What most of you guys forget from you youth is today's youth are different. Example when I was 16 I was standing at the DMV the day of my birthday. Today's kid could care if they drive. I have 4 grandchildren that passed through 16 from different families and none was even remotely as excited about driving as I was. Go figure.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:40 pm

charlese wrote:At 13 I was busy building model airplanes. The stick/balsa wood kind that were powered with a rubber band. Also got a small gasoline engine for Christmas and a small airplane kit that flew on a control line. The stabilizer had a bell crank that allowed me to fly it up or down- and land it.

Another toy I really enjoyed was a steam engine. Not much practical use found, but it was sure fun to run!

Maybe in Fla. a small radio controled boat kit would be fun.

I am not good with remote control airplanes except when do repairs after a crash. I got a lot of practice. However, I love to fly control line models. I still have a kit for a combat wing. Maybe I should build that and see if I can still react fast enough to remain airborne.

foxtrapper · Post by **foxtrapper** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:58 am

Ed in Tampa wrote:What most of you guys forget from you youth is today's youth are different.

That's a myth people tell themselves in order to justify their inactions. Don't fall for it.

I was reading a letter to the editor talking about the changes and decay of youth. All the body art, the short attention spans, the need for new and exciting things, etc. How the nucleus family has decayed, how this is all going to end in doom, and of course how much better it was back when the author was a kid.

The letter was written by a Senator. A Roman Senator, or perhaps Greek, I've forgotten which. But the letter and its lament about youth was many centuries old.

No indeed. The youth of today are no different than the youth of yesterday. Even yesterdays of long long ago.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:27 am

NOPE, not I. I was nothing like these kids of today.

I had a haircut. Yes, it was a mohawk but what does that have to do with anything.

I wore pants with no belt loops, pulled down to where they should have fallen off but what does that have to do with anything.

I wore t-shirts with no sleeves but what does that have to do with anything.

I hung out at a bowling alley where I occasionally made $.25 by setting pins but what does that have to do with anything.

Coke was a nickel and movies were a dime (on Saturday morning). Stores were closed on Sunday.

Nope, you don't find kids like that on the street anymore. Today's youth are just not the same.

Oh yeah, I rode a bicycle until I entered high school and had a paper route that paid several dollars a week while gasoline only cost less than $0.30 a gallon.

PS I was a Boy Scout and subscibed to "Boys Life" magazine.