The Education that comes with this hobby

[WalkingWolf]

As we begin to gather information and the bits and pieces for our planned adventures our immediate households become "exposed" to our motives and objectives to a greater degree the further along we get. For those of us still in the "child-rear'n" stages of life that means our yung'uns are exposed to these elements at whatever their respective ages happen to be at those times. ie. I've had my 8yo daughter hold the funnel while I filled the boiler. She sternly proclaims, "I'd appreciate it if you'd not spill anymore of your wine on me." -- but I digress.

My oldest is an EE major at the local university. My second just recently graduated from HS and plans to attend same Univ this fall -- she plans to study to be a Dentist. Back in the early spring the Univ. had what they call an "Engineering day". My son had attended the year before (as a senior in HS) as that's where his interest were. My daughter, on the other hand, saw it as an opportunity to take a day off of school -- we didn't have a problem with this as she is an A student and we feel if you "get-it-done" Mom and Dad will grant these outings. Anyways, she and her fellow students go to the Univ. and when they entered the exhibit hall one of the first things she comes across is a "still" that is actually running. It was being used to distill water and was designed and built by an ME student. This was one of the first things she told me when I got home that afternoon and I could hear the excitement and "accomplishment" in her voice that she had recognized and understood what it was she saw when she first walked up on it. I asked her if she asked him any questions -- she said no she just listened as he gave a brief overview of what he had assembled. Our children are exposed to all-manner of our hobby and many important skills and understanding are taken away as a result. When my oldest was a senior in HS his physics class was building a remote-controlled underwater "something-or-other" that did God-knows-what. The lesson here is that he was the only one in his class that knew how to solder when it came time to build the controller. He gave a quick-and-dirty to his fellow students on how to solder and several of his class-mates came away from that class with a new skill as well. At the end of the project the teacher let him keep his project as he had provided the needed additional input for the class to achieve what they had set out to do.

In closing, I have learned many a new skill in this great hobby, but that information was not lost on me -- my next generation have picked it up as well and it will be fun to watch as the skills reveal themselves over the years.

[Bushman]

Nicely stated, my son is an honor student in his last year of college majoring in hospitality. He left school for a while to work on a cruise ship so he is older than most his classmates. He really is a creative individual with hopes of opening a restaurant/bar combination. With his experience around me he wants it to be a distillery/ eatery and also roast and sell coffee. I am sure watching and helping me the last few years has changed his thinking on how a future business would look and work.

[googe]

Great story WalkingWolf!, lol @ your 8yr old . It's great you've been able to pass parts on of your passion . My missus was showing our 10yr old God daughter a PC of one of my stills a while back and she got all.excited and couldn't believe I'd made it, she kept bugging me to teach her how to solder!, I just kept saying, what, you want to learn how to solder lol. Since when does a 10 yr old girl want to learn to solder! . Made me feel great though knowing someone so young wants to learn hands on stuff instead of having there head stuck in a mobile or video game!.

[The HP]

All 3 of my sons ( 8, 12, 18 ) have helped me over the years in beer making. At this point the 18 year old one has designed a few recipes on his own and with my oversight has brewed them to fruition. ( Talk about a good deal - he does the heavy lifting, I get 10 gallons of beer ... )

[LWTCS]

Super good post Wolfie.
The value of the hobby can be measured at so many levels accross the board.

[thatguy1]

Nice story. Is it SOOO IMPORTANT for dads or moms to get in to hobbies when their children are young. You have no idea how much smarter and well rounded your children will be if you get them in to things when they are young. For instance a list of my hobbies that my son actively enjoys with me:

1. Woodworking
2. RC Cars / RC Planes
3. Chemistry
4. Guitar / Music
5. Computers - video games, programming
6. Electronics

and the list goes on.

The experience he has got from these hobbies will help him later in life for sure.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Great post WW, It is great for the kids to learn new hobbies and skills and to have them involved with you in your intrests. I am past those days but my girls (all 4) are around me all the time because they allways have been and now it's a line of Grand kids wanting to know what are you cooking there Grandpa???????????? I make some kick ass wine

[emptyglass]

My girls are still a bit young to fess up, but they are curious to what that big copper thing is in dad's shed.
As far as they know, daddy makes beer

I don't relly want them taking a parrot to school for show and tell, but in time, they'll be shown what daddy then does with the beer and that big copper thing.

I feel it will give them an appreciation for hooch that their freinds won't have, and also a respect for it when they come of legal age.