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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by KenMattern MY 7 year old started with Thomas. When he saw my small N scale layout (at eye level) he was hooked. Now we each have a layout. He spends more time with his trains than watching TV. I kind of miss Sponge Bob! I'm pretty sure that Jamie will stick with the hobby and even his mom is getting into it! It makes great family time. And with DCC we can all drive trains. Ken [/quote] Sounds like my place Ken. I have a 5 year old daughter. We went to a train store one day to look at Thomas stuff. She has always loved her little wooden trains - we started at about, oh, 12 months with a tiny little set from Ikea! Now she has a HUGE pile of the stuff, mainly bought on eBay for pennies. So if you want to be on her cool list when you come to play you better want to make a train layout. So this all gets daddy interested in trains again after a LONG layoff. We go to the LHS and buy a few lengths of flex-track, and handful of other bits and some roadbed. A piece of 2x4 play was easy to carry home and a $15 eBay special loco got us going. By then end of day 2 we had a working little layout and she could easily help lay track. After about four days of running the traina around through the pretend dinosaur park made from hugely oversized plastic toys she asked if should have a tunnel! Back to the LHS, so Woodland Scenics tunnel portals, some advice, a roll of plaster cloth and some strips of cardboard later we have a small mountain with a tunnel. We then went and got some more play and started a slightly more complex layout with some grades - cookie cutter style. So we recovered the track off the other layout and by now, with a little help, she can lay track almost as well as I can. Daddy has to back off on the secenery because that is Brenda and mummy territory! Don't wait till they are thirteen, get em at three, or better yet, two or even one! Their is always the old Jesuit maxim, "give me the boy till eight and I will give you the man for life". If you haven't got them by 8, you probably aren't going to get them at all. Kids today will only learn about instant gratification if we, their parents, teach it to them, or allow them to learn it. I hope I don't tread on too many toes when I say that if your kids are into instant gratification it is pprobably the parents that taught it to them. As for my daughter, well, my wife and I have sacrificed a lot to be at home with her (we both work from home). Instead of being asked "daddy can you buy me (insert latest craze toy here) ", the question is usually "daddy how do I make (insert thing here)?" She has had a computer of her own, but in the office with mummy and daddy, since 2 1/2. But right now she is in her room, stereo playing some nice calm music and she is making up adventure cartoons in her own fantasy world. In about an hour I imagine she will come in here and ask me to staple them into a book form! Kids and their interests are <s>very much</s> totally shaped by their parents. But let me add that it isn't easy! When all the other little girls have Tamagotchi's(sic) it is hard to say no. But she decided that doing things for herself is far more fun than being a passive participant after one of her friends came over with hers. Okay, back down off my soapbox again! Good topic and lots of interesting comments. John
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