I'm the Wolf Scout Leader in my ward. It's a lot of fun and a lot of work. For the last month, we've been preparing for the Pinewood Derby, an annual event which causes stress (for the parents) and anticipation (for the Scouts.) I didn't have brothers, so this is a whole new world for me, having sons and going to Scouts, much less being the Scout leader, which, we've already established, I am.
I'm sorry to say, my husband and I exchanged a few words about the car. I didn't think it was heavy enough, he thought it was too heavy, or something like that -- it was such a silly argument and I can't even remember who was right and who was wrong. We were probably both wrong -- who could be right when they are choosing to argue over something so innocuous? At any rate, the car got made, and tonight was The Big Night.
Some of those poor little cars could barely even make it down the track. They limped along, just making it over the finish line, looking like they could really use a walker. Other cars just zoomed down the track like greased lightning. My son's did okay -- well, he came in last the first three races, but by the last race, he was coming in 4th. I turned that into a positive and said, "Wow! Your car is getting faster with every race!" Each boy got a certificate and a trophy. That was cool. What's even cooler is that three of my six Wolf Scouts won a race. I was really proud of them.
And now we get to take what we learned and apply it to next year. That's right -- a derby race a year, for three years, per boy. I have three sons. That means that we'll be making nine derby cars in the Pinkston family. Maybe by the time Benjamin is a Scout, we'll have learned all the tricks.
Oh, and the picture on this post is not my son's car. No, this picture is to motivate us and give us something to shoot for. We can dream, right?
3 comments:
Ooooh, Pinewood Derbies. Not a fond memory. As a single mother, I found it very stressful. Luckily, my ex-father-in-law helped my son build his car and he even won a race or two. The next year, we just painted that car and used it again. It didn't do as well but we got through it. The third year, they did something with rockets. I'll have to ask my 27-year-old son if he has good memories of the event.
It was a little more stressful than I had anticipated, that's for sure.
You have to watch the movie "Down and Durby" if you haven't already.Itis about a dad that goes nuts with the pine wood durby race and it is funny. our whole family got a kick out of it.
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