Should they have a separate Pinewood Derby for the dads?
Our council does have a separate ‘family race’ that runs, after all of the dens run their races. It still doesn’t change the fact that the boys cars are mostly made by a grownup, though. It just means that the grownup gets to make *2* cars. My kids make their own, once I do the rough cut (using a hand saw, because we don’t have any power tools). It was fun seeing my little girl running her own handmade car in the ‘family race’ up against the more complicated grown up cars. We just try to emphasize the fun of building a car & racing it, to our kids – not the desire to ‘win’. They know the score – that most of those other kids, even if they win, didn’t really get to have any fun preparing for the derby or watching the race. Every year, they also have a prize for the car that ‘best honors the cub scout spirit’. That’s the saddest part, to me – when a car that was obviously made by the parent wins that award. How is that part of the ‘cub scout spirit’?
