those with kids, any promise for the DIY?

[runmikeyrun]

my daughter is almost two.  EVERYTHING she gets her hands on for the first time she just stares and analyzes it, sees how everything works, and tries to (or succeeds in) taking it apart.  You can see the wheels turning.  My dad said i was the same way, and my mom used to laugh at me when i was a kid because when i would buy something like an electric squirt gun or RC car i took it apart as soon as i got it home.  My brother and I were infatuated with building things- started with Legos and went on to all kinds of forts, lean-tos, treehouses, then on to mini bikes and small engines, then dirt bikes, cars, trucks, and now that my brother is 29 and a biomechanical engineer he STILL builds legos! 

I am a paramedic and while i try NOT to take anyone apart the human body fascinates me because it really is just one big machine.  The heart is completely controlled by electricity and  and an EKG strip is just a waveform if you will of electricity as it passes through the heart.  There can be hundreds of variations based on problems conduction the electricity to make it beat.  So far, I haven't gotten one into a stompbox.  Yet

I joke with my wife that in a few years she's going to be trying to pull me AND my daughter out of the basement or garage for lunch, dinner, bedtime, always answered with the response "just a few more minutes!"  All kidding aside, just wondering if anyone else's kids are into your hobbies, whether its electronics or playing guitar/bass. 

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

years ago, I asked someone what his (then tiny) kids wanted to do.
"Anything that YOU are doing" he laughed.
Of course, it is true. That is how they are wired, "monkey see, monkey do".
I don't have kids myself, but I see plenty of them & read to them.
The thing is, you really have to make time for kids & get them cutting & pasting or leggoing or whatever, otherwise they will become Zombie Blobs.
look at it this way: kids are a DIY project too (OK, sometimes the debugging is a hassle..)

[markm]

One of the most difficult things about having kids is that they don't come with an owner's manual! 

[runmikeyrun]

hahaha i hear that!  I'm just wondering how much of my brain is hardwired and how much "guy" stuff she'll actually end up wanting to do.  I hope i can still ride my dirt bike when she's old enough to want her own (last time i rode it i couldn't stand up straight for a week!) and i hope i'm still playing in an ass ripping metal band when she's old enough to come see a concert.

[kristopher612]

totally. i have seventeen yr old daughter that plays bass and sings.  loves hardcore and indie music. and geeks out over hearing what ive built.  a twelve yr old that is really into it too, and a 2 yr old that is picking up playing drums, and loves to take anything apart, twiddle knobs, press buttons...if i ever stop playing or building i highly doubt  that it will stop taking place in my house. 
i would like to get a hold of customer service to see if we CAN get a service manual with a layout and schematic for them though!

[Meanderthal]

 I have 3, a 17 yr old daughter, 16 yr old son, 14 yr old daughter. None of them show a lot of interest, although my son(also a bass player) very much likes the results, he dosen't seem to have much interest in building his own, he's focusing on the music(and fishin' and skateboard), practices for at least an hour a day, and ain't bad.... Makes sense... he thinks like me- first things first, if ya play the wrong notes at the wrong time, tone is irrelevant. My daughters want nothing to do with it.

[Paul Marossy]

My three year old boy wants to sit on my lap when I'm soldering stuff. I have to tell him "no", because it's not safe. He just says "OK, da da" and waits patiently for me do finish what I'm doing. My five year old girl is like a cat, she only comes around when she wants attention, so no worries there. Both of them have seen daddy soldering since their earliest memories! 

When I was boy, I used to take stuff apart all the time. I used to love it when my parents would give me the broken toaster to take apart and analyze! 

I think my daughter will definitely be a singer like her mommy, and she seems to have an interest in piano. My boy is stuck between wanting to play drums, guitar and being an army man. He might want to build stuff someday, who knows?

EDIT: OTOH, in the next 10-15 years, you might even be able to get parts to build stuff with - SMDs seem to be taking over the world these days...

[blanik]

my daughter is almost two.  EVERYTHING she gets her hands on for the first time she just stares and analyzes it, sees how everything works, and tries to (or succeeds in) taking it apart.... 

it's a phase she'll get over it, on the other hand if you had a boy, it would never pass... 

[runmikeyrun]

EDIT: OTOH, in the next 10-15 years, you might even be able to get parts to build stuff with - SMDs seem to be taking over the world these days...

I know, i took apart the behringer bass limiter/enhancer tonight to check it out and thought about me trying to work with SMD stuff when i'm in my late 40s, eyesight poor, hands trembling from too many years of exposure to microwaved food, and yelling "DAMN IT!" every 10 seconds when i burn my fingers or drop one of those tiny capacitors!

We'll see if it passes, i hope it doesn't.  If my wife's back ever gets any better we'll try for a boy but if we get another girl that's it i'm going to be too outnumbered.

[joelap]

I dont have any kids (yet), but in my younger days I was into Lego's bigtime.  My parents or relatives would buy me a set, and I'd build my own concoction out of it... I'd never build what was actually on the box!

[Paul Marossy]

I know, i took apart the behringer bass limiter/enhancer tonight to check it out and thought about me trying to work with SMD stuff when i'm in my late 40s, eyesight poor, hands trembling from too many years of exposure to microwaved food, and yelling "DAMN IT!" every 10 seconds when i burn my fingers or drop one of those tiny capacitors!

I could be wrong, but I think the day is coming when everything will be SMD... 

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I could be wrong, but I think the day is coming when everything will be SMD... 

Another 10 years, we'll be nostalgic for those "BIG OLD" surface mount chips.!
Actually, it is rather a serious problem that so much stuff around the house (nearly all of it!) today is quite meaningless, when a child opens it & looks inside (if there even IS an inside). Hard to pick up any kind of mechanical skills, or get interested, when everything just works by 'magic'. lucky there is lego.

home made musical toys are a good thing for building with kids.
eg http://www.rhythmweb.com/homemade/
http://www.expertvillage.com/interviews/homemade-instruments.htm

sooner you give them the idea that muic is something THEY can do, the better ;-D

[Tubebass]

My eldest son is a member of this forum, and has a number of successful builds under his belt!

[Mark Hammer]

The kids don't seem to want anything to do with electronics.  The older one is in civil engineering and seems more concerned with beer physics and the properties of concrete.  The younger one is still in primary school and exhibits a fascination for architecture.  Neither plays guitar.

My DIY interests seem to extend as far for them as "Dad, why isn't the TV working properly?  Can you fix the remote?". 

For halloween a few years ago, I made a robot full head mask for the younger one using the envelope follower from the Dr. Q.  The envelope follower was fed by a small mic cartridge inside the mask, powered by a 9v and fed a pair of superbright red LEDs.  The LEDs went in the nostrils of the mask so that they went on when the wearer talked.  Our son didn't find it comfortable to wear, so I ended up wearing it at the door as the neighbourhood children came by.  "How do you DO that?" they all asked.  The simple synchrony of lights and voice fascinated them.  Of course, in our house, it's just "ordinary magic" and no big deal.  Perhaps the benefits of being a DIY dad will turn up years later.  certainly the notion that you CAN just make it yourself, whatever "it" is, trickle down.  My kids see me making my own fresh salsa, winding my own pickups, and building my own cabs.  In their minds, that's just how things work.

[Paul Marossy]

beer physics

Which university offers that course?! 

[runmikeyrun]

which one DOESN'T?? 

I know, my wife cooks from scratch when she can, indian food, hummus, salsa (her fave) all kinds of stuff.  I grew up eating cooked meals when i was a kid through to the mid 80s then it was microwave everything- hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, and even that terrible microwave cake they had for a while.  My mom just stocked up the freezer and went to work. 

I should look into something like you built Mark, it sounds really awesome.  I am "that guy" on the block on halloween with all the stuff in his front yard    it sucks now because they made trick or treat from 5-7 when it's not even dark, but maybe i'll go scare the crap out of some kids at my dad's this year.  We used to make a full on haunted house up the street at my friends house every year until we finished high school.  My friend's mom said kids STILL ask her about it every year, and we stopped doing it 13 years ago!  Now she said it's mostly the kids' parents who ask because they have kids of their own now. 

I bought a big 5 foot tall foam rubber alien from a garage sale last year.  I really want to make a huge spaceship landing on my roof with the alien in it. 

Uh-oh, i just thought of something... i bet there's a DIY haunted house BBS out there.  Oh man, if there is, i'm in trouble. 

[Mark Hammer]

If you wanna have some real fun, stick a mic cartridge inside a full head mask and run the wires over your shoulder and down your pant leg to a sound system so they don't see it.  Now process your voice through a flanger or ring modulator and/or delay and hide an amp around the corner from the doorway and greet the kids with that voice.  They'll think they've gone to Epcot  as you dribble the mini-chocolate bars in their waiting pillow cases while their jaws hang to the floor.  Especially if they're less than 8 yrs old.

[Austin73]

Hi Mike , just thought I'd reply as I'm a paramedic in the UK and my son who is 20 months loves my pedals his fav is my wah wah I showed him one day how to use it and did the 'wah wah' sound . Now everytime he comes in he jumps on the pedal tries to rock it back and forth and goes 'wah wah' I should put it on You Tube its so cool can't wait till he can start playing as I probably make a mini Parker Fly for him!

Aus

[Nasse]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJHBNzfgGAw

That was a video about father and son, father is trying to get the son do some vacuum cleaning. (Just a joke, kids are not like this)

[David]

If you're asking whether my daughter will ever do DIY electronics, I doubt it.  Does that bother me?  Not really.  We're raising her to think for herself and to draw her own conclusions.  How can I blame her if her train of thought leads her to do something different?  As to music, I'm thinking probably not.  I could be wrong, though.  I had absolutely no interest in playing anything at all until I was two years older than she is right now.  Like Chuck Berry once sang, "It goes to show you never can tell."  I suspect there's more of Shark than Satriani in her (she's been saying lately that she wants to become a prosecutor).