Too Young to Touch ??????

Fotheringill Dec 9, 2004

  1. Fotheringill

    Fotheringill TrainBoard Member

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    I have read several threads over the last ten months or so, here and there, about children and trains.

    I admit that two is too young. Possibly three. Four is just right for me.
    I have a grandchild who is 4 1/2. Children like interactive things. Just sitting and watching a train go around when YOU are controlling it may be ok for one twenty minute session, but the child will soon lose interest. She would rather play with her Thomas the Train set than sit while Grandpa picks up a load of coal.
    HOWEVER, children like rules as long as they are clear and simple.
    If you have DC (I can only speak from experience with DC) put down a number on a piece of tape and tape it at the maximum (slowwwwwwww) speed at the control you want the child not to exceed. Explain that she/he can be the engineer of the train and make it move, but not go past where the mark is on the dial. (Put a few pieces of scrunched up duct tape on the far side of the throttle as a stop so there are no "accidents". You can also label the directional switch and let the little one control that, as well. I have done so and have an operational partner every time she visits. I even have a small area that she has made with a five rock formation near a bridge.
    You will possibly be making a fan of model railroading for life.

    I also have done the same with a nephew of 9 and he was thrilled.
     
  2. doofus

    doofus TrainBoard Supporter

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    In my opinion, I think it is how much exposure children get to trains and how early they get it. We have always had all the "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" merchandise. VCR tapes, Brio Trains, Traveling toys, and so fourth. Ever since they were infants, they were exposed to trains in some sort of way. My children were three years old when they were railing, pulling and pushing cuts of cars on the home layout.

    Children are not always mindful of rules. They don't understand the economics of a home layout, nor should they. You just have to expect things to break.

    Trains in general are developing into something that we all enjoy and can do almost anytime. Be it watching a DVD, reading a book, operating the layout, or just watching the real thing!!
     
  3. Derek

    Derek TrainBoard Member

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    It'd be interesting to study what it takes to get a child 'bitten', but whatever my dad did worked...

    All kids love trains, a select few of us just never grow up :D

    I had a ton of Brio probably since I was about 2, and that definitely gets one in the modelling mindset. I think a lot more happened as I got to ages 4-6, when my dad took me to railfair '91 in Sacramento, chasing helpered drags up and down the Donner foothills above Roseville, and lots of time sitting in the speeder inspection car parked next to the station in Colfax. :D

    I was 5 when he pulled out an old box of N scale stuff he had, and 'we' built a 3x6' layout. Apparently by then I had some comprehension of the importance of all of it, and I didn't have any problems with the layout that was built primarily for my pleasure.

    When I was 8 or 9 I got my first HO set, and constructed a 4x6 layout entirely left to my own devices.

    I can't remember a time in my so-far short life that I wasn't obsessed.
     
  4. Gabriel

    Gabriel TrainBoard Member

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    I do have one neice, shes 8, that is getting into it. Last time she was over we even did some switching. You know how kids can be heavy handed on stuff, but shes learning how to control the power a little better...boy would I love to have DCC right now. I dont worrow about her running it while im out of the room, she knows what not to do.

    I say get kids in it! IMHO, it beets a majority of "team" sports.
     
  5. JASON

    JASON TrainBoard Supporter

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    I think I over dosed my young bloke (5yro) to the point that he is now in full tilt ARMY mode,not worried about that in the least,pretty happy about it actually!
    But not going to push the issue with him & trains,maybe one day he will come around,the trains & I will be here waiting for him [​IMG]
     
  6. PF2488

    PF2488 E-Mail Bounces

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    My daughter is 2 1/2 years old. About three to four times a week, we head downstairs to run trains on my 12' x 14' layout. She (believe it or not) helps to put cars on the track using a deluxe innovations railer tool. She has run her N Scale Thomas / James train as well as a 30 car train consisting of MT, Deluxe Innovations, Roundhouse, Atlas and Red Caboose cars.

    After our 30-45 minute operating session, we head upstairs for a snack, the watch "there goes a train". She has Thomas and Brio stuff, but loses interest when the track comes apart or the cars stringline when she tries to make a train like dads.

    She knows not to touch the switches that control track power and turnouts. She can play with the MRC Sound Systtem, and has fun blowing the horns and the crossing sounds.
     
  7. davido

    davido TrainBoard Member

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    my 2 year old granddaughter is content (for a few minutes. to push all the buttons on on the mrc sound sytem (my wife bought the thing for me, i rarely use it).

    she loves the steam whistle, it does'nt matter to her that i don't have any steam. the control is the 1st thing she looks for when she enters the train room.

    it takes all of her will not to touch the train as it passes. fingers an inch away.

    david
     
  8. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    My child will know trains from the moment he/she arrives home. The baby's room IS the layout room.
    I was into trains from a very young age, and I plan on doing the same with my kids, until they are old enough to decide for themselves whether or not they like trains.
     
  9. Shannon

    Shannon TrainBoard Member

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    Moring All,

    I got my first layout and train set at the age of 6. My dad was doing model railroading a little at that time and figured it might be a good hobby for me as I grew up. Little did he know what would happen. I consider myself a student of the railroad industry getting more involved in museums and the like to enjoy railroading (real stuff and the models) as much as possible. I guess it also helped that I grew up a block and half from the Santa Fe here in Fresno. [​IMG]

    My grandaughter is now 7 and she just got a look into my train room and her eyes were bigger than dollar coins. I intend to get her started in the hobby and maybe she will enjoy it as much as I do. [​IMG]

    Shannon

    WP LIVES :D
    ATSF LIVES :D
     
  10. BALOU LINE

    BALOU LINE TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG] My daughter is now 4, and she is my little train buddy. She has always had trains, started with a baby rattle. By the time she was two, she had her trains on the floor beneath dad's shelf, and we'd take turns playing with hers, playing with mine. One of the first things she learned about dad's train is how to handle them carefully. Last train show we went to I was the only parent not telling their child "Don't touch". Now she helps with painting scenery, sprinkling ground foam, and she love putting on tiny bushes.
    I don't think there is such a thing as TOO young, it's just a matter of knowing what they can and can't do, close suppervision and positive re-enforcement.
    [​IMG] Glad to see others are getting the girls interested in our hobby too!
     
  11. NP/GNBill

    NP/GNBill TrainBoard Supporter

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    My dad got me into N scale at an early age. I could run the trains anytime I wanted, but I also knew that I had to respect them and not "HOTROD" them around. Funny part is dad got out of model railroading for 15 years and here about two weeks ago he was down and I gave him a bunch of freight cars and a couple of Trainmasters I wasn't using anymore, and he is full tilt back in it now. Pretty cool. Now if I could only get my wife into them?
     
  12. Akers

    Akers TrainBoard Member

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    My 18 month old son LOVES trains!!! The first thing he does every evening when I get home is go to the train room and knock on the door. I have an MRC sound station and he has been playing with it since he was old enough to push the buttons (maybe 1?), and he also enjoys running a train, just making it go then stop and so forth, using an old LL E-8 that's been beat up a bit. But it's bright yellow KCS paint job makes it his favorite, and it doesn't go very fast even at full throttle. Most of the layout is off limits to him, but I intentionally have left a large unfinished area along the front empty for him (it's actually a yard, but there is nothing in or around it except tracks with the blocks turned off). He loves pushing the little autos & trucks around and such while I run trains, and he is absolutely fascinated when I start switching the yard. He knows not to touch the trains or anything plastic, but sometimes does anyway. That's ok, I try to keep everything at a safe distance that's breakable but am more interested in introducing him to a wonderful hobby than scaring him into not wanting to be interested. I figure the meager cost of a few broken pieces of (cheap) equipment at this stage is a small price considering the potential lifetime enjoyment of model railroading, not to mention the quality time and bonding that we are both getting out of it.
     
  13. Fotheringill

    Fotheringill TrainBoard Member

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    It also makes babysitting much easier and productive.
     
  14. Akers

    Akers TrainBoard Member

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    True, it can make babysitting much easier. Except when it's late and time to go to bed and he throws a screaming fit cause I turn the trains off! I guess that's the price we pay...oh the joys of parenthood!
     
  15. Chessie System

    Chessie System E-Mail Bounces

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    I personally think N scale is too small and fragile for young kids. O gauge is the right size and is durable as well. However, if it's N scale that interests the child, go for it!

    Doug
     
  16. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    This sums up my opinion on the question very well!

    Bill- Glad to hear you got your dad back into it again! [​IMG]

    Boxcab E50
     
  17. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    And there's no such thing as too old! But that's another topic.

    I'm at the stage of life where there are not youngsters always around--no grandchildren yet. My layouts have been far enough off the floor that I've had few problems with youngsters--they usually have to be held by their parents to see what's going on. The railroad is the highlight for kids for the two or three large parties we host every year--it's the highlight for some adults, too.

    A lot of people have never seen N scale--it's usually the adults who are poking at things. But things can be repaired, especially cheap weed trees, dislodged details and the masts of the ships near the edge. I don't understand why strapping young men (from my wife's work) insist on resting their elbows on the scenery around the plutonium plant, but it doesn't bother me.

    I have had a few problems with sticky fingered pre-teen boys, who think I won't notice a missing N scale car or truck. I think they don't understand how much they cost. There's so many of them, why would I miss one? Of course, it may be someone older. When I actually witnessed one incident, I decided not to make a scene, but retrieved it quietly and privately from him later.

    People unfamiliar with model railroading don't realize how much things cost. When I pointed out to one guest that she was driving a $700 train, she dropped her Adam's Family tendencies immediately.

    I'm happy that at least two families are starting model railroads this year due to their kids' insistence after seeing my railroad.
     

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