i was reading a book called "chuck's truck" to my 3 yr old little girl last nite, it is a cool book with good illiistration (she picked it out by herself , her momma and i were so proud) , and i got to thinking about if there are other cool kids books out there that are car related. i took her to billetproof and she had a blast, i have another little girl that is 8 months old and i want to try to give her all the same opportunities to be "well rounded" like my other daughter. when the 3 yr old was about a year old i was putting the suspension and wheels on my car and ever since she has been hooked on working on anything mechanical. boy, life has changed since i had kids though, the garage is attached to the house and the shed is right outside their bedrooms, so no loud noise after they go to bed. i know this will change as they get older but it definatly puts a cramp on getting stuff built now. so here is the point of my topic. any other parents got any "cool" book or toy suggestions, especially traditional or antique? any suggestions on how to get stuff done and keep the family life balanced/happy? i am hoping this will open up some more topics relating to kids and customs/hotrods.
I have 4 kids, now grown, and two grandkids, one lives with us. I'm an avid model builder and hotrodder. I do most of my work in the middle of the night, or very early in the morning,when I'n not too tired to do it! (No, you can't pound on metal) I get up at 6 every day anyways, so Sat. & Sun. morning is generally a good time to do paintwork or anything quiet. You definitely can't spend hours upon hours out there tinkering, not if you want a family life too. Yes, I'm guilty of doing that on occasion, but not as much since my rod is mostly finished. It's easy to get caught up in your work, and my wife has been pretty kool about it MOST of the time. LOL. (not always) On the upside, my kids can identify most old cars (thier friends can't), tell me about cars they saw, know what a Ratfink is, (most kids don't these days), know who Von Dutch REALLY is, (No, he's NOT some swank Dutch clothing designer!), and in general love to look at cars. We have a lot of fun because of cars, and the rodding culture. A few years back, I had every kid in the neighborhood wearing airbrushed tatoo's when I was practicing spraying Henna inks! My wife about shit when she saw my neighbors 8 yr. old with this big ass skull on his back! If you look at the big picture, those of us who live for cars ain't such bad people most of the time.........
"How Many Trucks Can A Tow truck Tow" If you read it more than once, you will find yourself repeating parts if the book for the rest of your life. Great toddler read, especially if you really get into the rythm of the poems.
PPG gives away car coloring books at Goodguys events that my kids like. ...although they got kinda annoyed when I kept coloring all the cars flat black with red wheels Here's a link where the PPG coloring book is compressed into a zip file. Scroll down to the bottom and click where it says "Coloring book to download and be a KID again". http://www.cjhilton.com/models/ Hope this helps.
Here's a TECH thread my (then 5-year-old) son and I did in the garage together: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143110
Balancing family and hot rods isn't a hard thing if you have an understanding wife, and don't make it a priority. I married a wonderful woman that loves hot rods, so I'm in like flynn. My 10yo daughter really isn't into cars, but she is starting to like cruising in the Buick. My 16month boy will be a gear head for sure. My wife brings him out to the garage all the time and he is fascinated with everything out there. Last summer when I bought my Buick he was outside with me 90% of the time with a wrench in his hand trying to fix those pesky turn signals. He still gets upset when his mom takes him inside. I tried something similar with my daughter, but she just wasn't interested. I even gave her my first Wally to play with for a little inspiration, but she never clicked with it. Oh well, I'm still not going to give up!!!
when i was a kid my mom had a book called "the happy man and his dump truck" i thought it was the coolest thing because my dad drove a dump truck so its kinda along the same lines
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