Getting Kids involved in RC?

[ChickenBalls]

Ladies & Gents I post this question more so how to get "MY" kid involved/interested in RC, but if you have things you do to get kids involved in RC in your community, please post away.

This is what I have : My son has had a transmitter in his hands since 2 years old, hanging with the boys at the field, crashing on the sim, helping dad assemble planes, the works. I've never forced him, this is just what he did, daddy's little man. Then came age 5, started school, and he became mom's little man? Hey wait a minute, I just had him where he could almost do a pattern alone on the sim, without going watch this daddy, while he piled it in the ground, and laugh, hit reset, and crash again. He is 8 now and still requests to go to the field on rare occasions, but only to hang with the guys, no interest in flying at all. He loves fishing, shooting guns, but those are the only 2 things, that I can get him to let go of either his moms leg, or his little fingers off the wii, playstation, or TV remote.

Help a fella out with some ideas of what I can do, or if there is anything I can do. My latest evil plan, is a Mystery Machine from Radical RC. Thanks to those "HANDSOME" pics of @Decal Dennis and his Scooby Van, my son saw here, all I've heard is I want it I want it, little does he know, and thankfully he doesn't know, that I would buy him 20 of them if he would fly. I would love to be Pit Dad, I'd completely hand him the sticks(give up flying all together myself), and set back and watch. I think this is my dream, and not his, and don't hesitate to say so, if you think the same. I'm just looking for tips, and yes I will result to trickery to get him out to the field.

 

[Thomas]

Let him invite a friend over to assemble a plane of their own, and then take them to the field.
My Grandson (5) has just finished "our" Northstar kit and is anxious to see it take off from the snow. ( yeah, yeah... He didn't do much help, but in his mind HE was the builder!) His interest is in going to the field, but once there, he goofs off with the other boys his age and seldom gets any stick time. SO... I put together a trainer plane, buddy boxed, and now the boys all beg for a flight. This Spring is going to be busy, as now there are about 7 of them who want to fly. Thankfully their Dad or Grandpa is already in the flying club and have experience.
One young guy just bought (using his own $) a Nite Vapor for flying in the gym here at the church. He joins the 6 or 7 other men who fly indoors here. Now my Grandson is asking to fly indoors too.
That's how - Just get them to include their buddies.
You'll go broke buying parts, but would you rather they NOT get an interest?

 

[Thomas]

This is me, my Son and my Grandson - 3 generations of RC Pilots!
ALSO... take him to a Swap Meet and let him see all the COOL stuff, and pick out a beater of his own. Make a day of it, and Dad is then KING in his eyes.

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

My grandkids love flying on the sim. I can't get them off of it. They do best when using the chase camera mode. Believe it or not the Predator is pretty easy for them to fly is the normal RC Mode and they love shooting the missiles. Anything to get them interested.

 

[ChickenBalls]

Thomas Thanks for the ideas, while I've done a few things you mentioned, the swap meet I haven't tried. He has all kinds of planes. Senior Telemaster, 60 size Alpha trainer, vapor, night vapor, all of which he picked out, others planes foamies and such also ( he's a bit spoiled). Kicker is if he won't play wiff em "DAD" will. I've tried the buddy cord, seems we have his attention for just a few minutes, and then "HE GONE" back to the pits to find his drink and chips, and like you mentioned, running, and playing.

 

[Thomas]

Thomas Thanks for the ideas, while I've done a few things you mentioned, the swap meet I haven't tried. He has all kinds of planes. Senior Telemaster, 60 size Alpha trainer, vapor, night vapor, all of which he picked out, others planes foamies and such also ( he's a bit spoiled). Kicker is if he won't play wiff em "DAD" will. I've tried the buddy cord, seems we have his attention for just a few minutes, and then "HE GONE" back to the pits to find his drink and chips, and like you mentioned, running, and playing.

He'll get there is Dad allows him to have fun, and doesn't ram it down his throat.
How many guys show up to the field and get a single flight in, and then sit around yacking all day! We call them the spectator/members. They are just little boys who ... Ew! Shiney....

 

[pawnshopmike]

My 9 year old daughter has been into flying off and on the last 3 years or so. She started with the sim then started flying my Night Vapor. After that we built her a Fancy Foam Aileron Trainer which she really doesn't like flying much. Now she has a couple small quads that she like to fool around with. But she is very on again off again with it and I really don't push her. With school, soccer, basketball, track, volleyball and piano she stays pretty busy as it is.

Her interest was re-sparked again at E-fest last weekend. She wanted the Sonic the Hedgehog version of the Mystery Machine. And she also fell in love with a giant sized version of the Night Vapor that a couple guys were flying. Not to mention all the quads that were there. She wanted one each of those!

I probably would have bought her all of the above if I knew for sure she would stick with it. So we settled with buying a few accessories like a light kit for her foamie and some fancy blade guards for one of her quads. Mom and I told her if she starts flying her other birds on a regular basis then we'll look into buying her something new.

 

[rcpilotacro]

My Son has been building and flying since he was i guess 7 yr old (He is 15 now), well i let him build, fly sim, and once he was ready i let him fly solo. Here is his experience, i go with @ChickenBalls on this, i didnt force him as such, nowadays he is studying hard to be an engineer and will try his hand at Business administration too i guess, couple of months later he will in Melbourne FL for couple of months with his uncle. Here is his experience of flying solo, a post from our Indian forum

[quote author=VMaliakal link=topic=7742.msg86626#msg86626 date=1326546148]
Today we( me and papa )went our most loveable flying place our "sports complex It's a very big ground to fly. We took the Yak 54 profile and the Multiplex Easystar. ;D. Firstly papa took Yak 54 and flew did some hover and aerobatics and did three sorties and on the fourth sortie he said " Vineet come here with the trainer " . Then I tossed the yak after tossing papa said " Climb! Climb! " I climbed after climbing iI noticed that the aileron trim is not at the right position. it was turning and turning but the nose touched the ground the mount broke. So without C.A without zap. Now it's the turn of Easystar the Glider . First flight papa tossed the easystar after gaining height it 's me to turn come back and land and if errors done papa took the controls back and said "careful careful" this story lasted 35 minutes that is one 2.2 turnigy battery, after that papa said ' This time I will give you my radio " Futaba 7C " I said " no no no" He said "O.K" papa tossed it again but after going up he took off the trainer cable and gave the transmitter to me. Then I asked papa " Where are you going " he said "I'm going home" Then I thought no instructor only me, I turned the Easystar and came down by cutting throttle and landed on the grass. Papa said "super, That's your solo done"


Thanks
VMaliakal
[/quote]

 

[Decal Dennis]

Ah the Multiplex Easystar....that's how I taught myself how to fly, once I got comfortable with it as a 3 channel, I added ailerons, brushless motor/lipos and the extreme packing tape mod. There was no stopping me after that!!

 

[Decal Dennis]

Ladies & Gents I post this question more so how to get "MY" kid involved/interested in RC, but if you have things you do to get kids involved in RC in your community, please post away.

This is what I have : My son has had a transmitter in his hands since 2 years old, hanging with the boys at the field, crashing on the sim, helping dad assemble planes, the works. I've never forced him, this is just what he did, daddy's little man. Then came age 5, started school, and he became mom's little man? Hey wait a minute, I just had him where he could almost do a pattern alone on the sim, without going watch this daddy, while he piled it in the ground, and laugh, hit reset, and crash again. He is 8 now and still requests to go to the field on rare occasions, but only to hang with the guys, no interest in flying at all. He loves fishing, shooting guns, but those are the only 2 things, that I can get him to let go of either his moms leg, or his little fingers off the wii, playstation, or TV remote.

Help a fella out with some ideas of what I can do, or if there is anything I can do. My latest evil plan, is a Mystery Machine from Radical RC. Thanks to those "HANDSOME" pics of @Decal Dennis and his Scooby Van, my son saw here, all I've heard is I want it I want it, little does he know, and thankfully he doesn't know, that I would buy him 20 of them if he would fly. I would love to be Pit Dad, I'd completely hand him the sticks(give up flying all together myself), and set back and watch. I think this is my dream, and not his, and don't hesitate to say so, if you think the same. I'm just looking for tips, and yes I will result to trickery to get him out to the field.

LOL...don't be plastering my ugly mug everywhere now