If you walk into any classroom in the country, you’ll have every boy and girl identified within minutes as to what they’re doing. That girl who reads National Geographic loves animals, the guy over there who doodles in his notebook and ignores the teacher is the artist, and the guy who raises his fists in front of him goes “Vroooom, vroooommmmm! EEEEEE !” he’s obviously the one in the cars.
It’s one of those fascinations that, for many of us, begins in early childhood and continues through adulthood and then into old age. Whereas in real life, we may have to settle for a more affordable and modest vehicle, leaving the hot rods and custom machines to racers and stuntmen, the escapism of a good car chase movie, or just a walk through a classic car show leaves most adults with a smile on their face, thinking of what we could drive if we didn’t have to hold down a job and maintain a respectable life.
If it’s your son or nephew who’s crazy about V8s and knows more about fuel injection than you do, here’s some advice: encourage him. Every time you go to work on the car, let the guy come with you, explain what you’re doing, and let him help you. At a minimum, you’re going to be raising a kid who can take care of these things for himself when he reaches driving age. And second, continue to nurture his infatuation with cars with the right toys.
Some of the coolest car toys actually come from Legos. Lego racers, for example, are great. They let the child organize a race because he either follows the instructions or can build one of his own design.
And of course you can’t go wrong with remote control cars. When we were kids these were pretty much the cool toy, and they still are. Sure, you can play racing video games these days, but do racing games let you build your own backyard race tracks? Do you feel the same visceral thrill from racing through a video game as you do from listening to the hum and hum of a remote-controlled car’s electric motor? Can you stack a pile of used soda cans and try to cause spectacular crashes against the pile? Remote control cars offer room for imagination that is difficult to achieve with an Xbox controller.
And of course, if your child is still a little young for something as complex as a hundred piece lego set or a remote control car or something, there are plenty of things for the car-loving toddler. Wooden toys, for example, may not satisfy that need for speed, but they’re a safe and easy alternative when your child is obsessed with cars and you know he’s not quite ready for something made for older kids just yet.
