On 22 Jan 2007 15:16:38 -0800, wrote:

I know many feel your kids would be scarred forever for losing, so you
feel like you have to participate to make the cars as good as you can.
But I don't really think it has been about the kids for a few decades.
This is not a jab at Locutus, but reading his post, what did his son do
to participate? What was his part? He isn't even mentioned in the
whole process (except to select paint) again until the end where
ownership of the car makes him the winner.

So I like Swingman's idea a lot. Give them a box of stickers to
personalize the cars and let 'em have at it. I think the kiddos are a
lot more resilient than they get credit for. If they had 30 minutes to
customize a car before running the race and that represented the prep
part of the competition, I think all would be fine, win or lose. And
then they could enjoy the racing with their friends, admiring each
other's cars, and eating hot dogs and pizza.

Agreed, and I'll add this- it deviates from the pinewood derby a
little, but not as much as a guy might think.

We have to stop insulating people from failure. Too many people never
learn because they're sheltered until they're too old, and then the
first time it happens when they hit the real world, they crack like an
egg. I know a whole lot of people who are unwilling to risk
*anything* because they might fail- I would hope that the scouts would
have an interest in helping those kids involved learn to "Be Prepared"
for the inevitable disappointments they're bound to encounter from
time to time, and it would seem that a wooden car race would be a fine
way to do that in a controlled setting. It's not the Special
Olympics, after all. Let those kids make their own pineywood
jalopies- if they win, they might want to keep at the woodworking. If
they lose, it's a good opportunity to pick themselves up and dust off-
they can try again next year.

Robert