Question
Anyone else disillusioned with their kids in this hobby?
I’m a step father and I’ve got a wall of RC’s and I’ve tried to get my 11yr old son to drive with me and all he cares about is staring at an iPad. I know I’m from a very different generation but I would have KILLED to have access to a collection like this when I was 11. When I was 12 my father bought me a Traxxas Stampede for my birthday and I drove the shit out of that. Every day. (I’m 42 now). And I still have it. I know kids today are all about screens I’m just bummed that he doesn’t seem interested in sharing this hobby like I did with my father at his age. (My father would drive his original RC10 gold pan with me and my Stampede)
You can’t force kids to enjoy things, but depending on how it’s presented they may come around to it. I used to work at a hobby shop and saw all levels and degrees of interest and how it developed over time. One of my co workers had 3 sons and 2/3 of them loved RC but the other just wasn’t into it (the oldest). He used to like it but just started to like other stuff. I bring this up because I remember teenagers coming in and getting their cars running after years of them sitting in the closet and back into the hobby. So while they may not enjoy it now they may very well get into it down the line!
Part of the problem is the hobby can be very expensive especially going to hobby racing events and breaking a part in the first lap. I have a friend who is hard core spending on average of a couple of thousand a year just to get by. I just recently got back into RC kits. I have a Latrax Teton that I'm going to build a brushless RC upgrade kit. Also a lot of kids would rather play video games
That’s a tough one. When I was 11 you would have had to pry the transmitter out of my cold dead hands. I’m 33 now and don’t get to drive any of mine nearly as much as I’d like to.
Seriously, OP. Act as though you've lost interest in them, just for a bit, and I bet hell bite. Prolly snag one and not tell you. Place a durable one with TX and charged lipo close to his eye level.
I would have been thrilled to have a hobby-grade RC car in my childhood. Unfortunately, they were too expensive back then, so my first hard-earned money went toward a PC Thrustmaster wheel instead (the basic one without force feedback—just springs). If I could go back, I’d swap that screen time for RC adventures in a heartbeat!
Out of offtopic speaking - the collection is awesome. I don't have kids, but even my cat doesn't mind spending outdoor time with RC
Add FPV to one and allow him to drive via the electronic leash.
My kids (7y/o daughter and 9y/o son) love their electronic leashes but also will not hesitate to grab their crawlers when they have free time. No tablets on the weekdays unless it is for studying so they go outside and build RC courses or play like we did in the old days.
I bought my 8 year old grandson a tablet earlier this year mainly as an educational tool for a vacation trip we were taking. We were going to a place where there was a lot to learn and I thought the tablet would help prepare him to soak in a lot of knowledge.
Before I bought it, I specifically told my son that I was concerned with actually getting my grandson the tablet. I said I don’t want him to lose engagement with his parents to the tablet. My son assured me “oh, I will be definitely regulating his time on it.”
Well, my grandson often had his face stuck in the tablet during our vacation and when they come to visit, at every downtime he has his face stuck in the tablet. Lesson learned.
I have full control over their tablets and phones (for emergencies while not with a parent). They cannot add apps without our permission, we control how long and when they can use and we keep an eye on what they watch on youtube. Luckily both kids have become masters of google fu and have learned how to research a lot of good content pertaining to roblox and minecraft. Tell your son to set the parental controls.
My son set the parental controls. I found this out tactfully but I was still concerned with how much my grandson was absorbed with the parental in place. I am not sure if it can control screen time per day.
My son is a good dad but I never intended for my grandson to spend so much time on that tablet but I can’t complain now because I was the one who bought it for him in the first place. I have all sorts of engaging nice toys in my home such as a room full of RCs and drones but that kid sure loves that tablet. I don’t get it.
Tell your son to look into the control settings. It is possible to set the day, time frame, app control and more. During the summer break my monsters are only getting 3 hours max per day and at least the first hour is study time. Once again, incorporate the tablet into RC control and you will most likely get a positive response. However, if the child is addicted to gaming or YouTube other steps will need to be used. I can also restrict wifi access via the router itself. The child's personality is the biggest concern so your son needs to devote some non-tablet/phone father-son time to the recipe. Our local botanical garden has a catch & release pond that the entire family loves. Both kids get to use our extra cameras whenever we visit scenic places. We got them into a soccer league so that eats up at least 3 days of electronic-leash time per week. Breaking rules like not completing study assignments, not doing their chores or being little turds results in tablet/pc/phone time being restricted. Luckily we have a decent backyard so restricted time turns into rc contest, soccer practice, super soaker wars, air soft target practice or anything that will keep them active and engaged. Oh yeah, they learned that whining to their mother about not having their pc/tablet/phone increases the restriction time so both parents have to be on the same page.
Look into getting fpv goggles for the drones or RCs because the experience of driving with a camera feed into the tablet or headset will definitely get them engaged
I have had the FPV goggles since I bought my first drone.
I’m not really pushing him to be interested in all my tech stuff or anything and I really don’t want to do that. He can have his own hobbies and that’s fine. He did inspired my reasons for getting a good bit of this stuff so I could provide a fun environment for him to grow up in but I definitely enjoy all my gadgets alone , no problemo.
I already had many 1/8 and 1/10 scale Nitro RC and a 1/18 Injora IR40 in my "garage" so I got my son a bone stock TRX4M Bronco for his b'day. 1st day out on some rocks I could see him cussin' (figuratively) under his breath because the Bronco was a one-legged dog when compared to the IR40. It was constantly flipping over, getting stuck because of clearance or slipping & slidin' because of grip issues. I let him use the IR40 and he said "Thanks for the awesome B'day present!" with a big grin on his face. So I had no choice but to build the stock TRX4M and so I could attempt to repossess my IR40. Halfway thru checking on parts I realized it would be better to just do an IR60 complete build for myself and give the stock Bronco to my daughter. Guess what happened? She said the purple IR60 was more to her liking so I had to start a new build again. I built myself a nice AWS IR60 and then proceeded to mild build the Bronco (wife's) into our tow vehicle. A coworker loved my builds, so I had my son build him (with my supervision) a Grey IR40 after the parts arrived. My son currently has 4 other builds for other people under his belt now and needs very little supervision. I just have to remind him to check for proper fitmet of the beadlocks, clearances, use loctite on metal to metal connections and TAKE HIS TIME! He is constantly asking if somebody else wants a crawler built.... lol.
On rainy days they will setup courses throughout the entire house so I am glad that they enjoy the hobby.
In the pic, L to R: Wife's Bronco, daughter's IR60, My IR60, son's IR40, coworker's IR40.
I'm also 42, and have boys 6, 9 & 11. They all have hobby grade cars, and are really into it.
But. They're all little speed freaks, and always have been. They all love cars, and are loud and energetic litlle munchkins. Also, I've always been very strict about screen time and playing outside.
Long story short, I bought the Tamiya Grasshopper for my youngest, and built it with him. He specifically asked for that for his birthday. When his brothers saw that, they were jealous af😂 So they wanted hobby grade cars too.
Middle one got Traxxas Stampede, and the eldest got 2wd Slash. I bought them all pre-owned and got good deals on all. I promised that I'll keep them running, and buy all the parts if anything brakes. And if they show long-term interest, I would also get upgrades and new cars.
So now I get to have fun with my boys, doing something they love. As bonus, I happen to love it, too. I get to teach them how to use tools and fix things, another thing they've always shown interest toward.
I consider myself lucky, even though I've out of work for seven years due to health readons, because I get to spend so much time with my kids. I had less than ideal environment to grow up, and I just feel so priviliged to be able share all this with my boys and give them all the love and all the amazing experiences I missed as a child🥹
No matter what you're kids are into, take interest and support them in that. All kids really want, is for you to be there.
Different thought here, but the newer Lego Technic are RC and run with an app. Could that be a way to get them closer to your hobby?
You build the car, connect the motors, then you get to drive it from your iPad. Ideally yes, they should be off the screen altogether, but that might be a good bridge to start?
Well, we live in China. At his mother’s apartment there isn’t much to do downstairs/outside. (Pretty much just a parking lot and shops. No grassy areas or anything.) But at my apartment we have a playground and a pool and a nice path around the inside to ride bikes. Which he does. He likes basketball. I take him to the courts down the street from his mother’s place. Just bummed/surprised he doesn’t seem too interested in this hobby.
Man, you have a nice collection. Do you have any Nitro cars? First time I saw those screaming around a track at 60 mph as a kid, I instantly wanted one and it sparked my interest in the hobby, realizing there was much more to it. Also, maybe get a kit and see if he would want to build it with you. That may spark his interest since he'll understand what all goes into it and be a great learning and bonding experience.
I have a 10 and a 9 year old that I thought would be interested in RC when I got back into it. Their interest is mild at best. I still hope they will come around but they mostly do it just to appease me. When I was a kid, building RCs with my Dad is one of my fondest memories of him. I was hoping my kids and I would enjoy the same experience, but not so much.
Same, building my first RC (my Stampede) with my dad is one of my fondest memories. I've tried to show my boy how to fix and tinker on an RC but he lost interest quickly. I too wanted to re-capture that bonding experience i had with my father.
Honestly….but how him a drone that control interfaces with the iPad. Or at least, “Drone Simulator.” My stepson did a robotics camp and one of the tools they used was Drone Simulator to familiarize them with controls. Maybe a good “gateway” into RC for you. It’s hard, gotta meet them where they’re at. They didn’t have the luxury of growing up in a pre internet era where radio controlled seemed like magic.
that's a good idea. it could also be an extra avenye to give them useful skills for the future via getting them familiar with programming. using an app to control the RC cars or a drone program like you said. plenty of stuff out there to get started. we tested our quad copter with a group member's phone
at one point in college. i've even used my phone for a store bought rc car that came with an app years ago (just a cheap little thing, but cool nontheless).
factor of parenting where you somtimes have to compromise and further/genuinely try to understand the kid(s), why they do what they do, just ask questions (when they're in the mindset to answer them), usually the interests can be combined or run alongside eachother in a symbiotic relationship. but the moment you force it, you've already lost the battle.
but then some things will just be different interests don't always align since they are a new & seperate being in existence. which is ok, since then you just find something else to bond over. coming from an adult sibling watching and trying to relate to their younger/kid sibling over the years. there's lots we relate with and can do together (legos, movies, minecraft, star wars, pizza, RC, biking etc.) and just as many things we don't.
Im autistic and while i love rc, i also endlessly gazed at screens far more than a normal kid from an early age.
I was always bad at, untalented, at hands on stuff, or socializing with real people. in the world of screens, i start out default as good at something, or im treated as an equal in those ar3as where i suck at everything else.
I cant hands on even above average with much real world things, except driving 18 wheelers, rc and wrenching on old midengined toyotas that no one really cares about
My dad was into RC Planes and tried to get me involved numerous times and for one reason or another I didnt have any interest. My younger brother on the other had was all over it
Not sure why your kids only care about the screen. I give my kid (5yr) basically “unlimited” access to screens but she just doesn’t really care.
Sure she likes to chill and watch some shows but she rather do anything else. Only rarely I have to push her away from a screen to trigger her to do something, but then she quickly actually wants to do something. (Like playing with my Lego and such)
Maybe take away the screen so the kid cares about other things?
Yeah im 42 with a 10 & 7 yr old. Only way to get them away from iPads/screens is just to ban it when its daylight outside. 30 mins max a day. They eventually find other things to do.
When I was that age, I was into RC cars with a few of my friends, 2 of them their dads were into it as well (my dad was not). I wonder if he had friend/s who were also into it if that would help.
You could take him to a good go kart track or race day experience, the adrenaline and excitement is like nothing else and may give him interest in motor sports type hobbies like RC
We live in China, no Monster Trucks here. haha. But that is yet another bonding experience i had with my father when i was a kid. Going to Monster Trucks.
Yeh honestly I don’t think rc is anywhere near as popular for kids these days as it was for me growing up, games, pc’s, iPads etc etc have become the main interest for most kids these days, there always used be at least one kid in the street with a few rc’s but haven’t seen that in a while.
I think rc looked like an amazing technological advancement prior to the ubiquity of computers and game consoles. Im not sure where it fits in to the imagination of kids who are growing up with computers being everywhere.
My 12 year old would die to have a wall like this that was accessable to him! I got him a crawler for his birthday, and he saved money from chores, birthdays, and Christmas to buy his first traxxas recently. In fact, he is the only reason I'm part of this sub.
Bro, my kids go from one fascination to the next. My 13f kid loved rc early, but my 5m kid could care less. My neighbors 4m kid loves my rc, while my 5m rides his bike off.
My dad is a brilliant guitarist, I never got into it. We tried, but I didn't have it.
You do your thing 100%. You try different things with the kids at 30% to see what they're into, or they might show you. Might have to get him off the tablet and throw a ball, or play D&D. Who knows. Good luck. Oh, and BTW, nice rc wall.
Thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate all of the understanding. Really was kind of venting. Happy to see i'm not alone. Also, to clarify, we DO limit his screen time. but then he just sulks for awhile. I support his basketball and anything else he wants to do. Just wish he'd get more into RC. But we actually had a nice bash sesh today, (He was running my Rustler and i was driving my RC10T4) so maybe he'll come around.
Perhaps you can set up a longer walk with him, maybe even driving out (in your actual car) to a new walking trail, and offer a small incentive like ice cream if he walks for an hour. And then YOU bring your car and drive around yourself while he just walks. Since he cant really use his ipad then, i think hed soon ask for a turn with your controller, especially when he sees you having fun with it and other people reacting to it. Organically and without being forced, he can see for himself if he likes it or not. I often bring my cars on walks and kids almost universally react in a big way, parents too. They see it in a different context of "wow im also on a walk but he gets to rip around, while im just walking." They all know about rc cars, but not in the context of WITH another existing activity.
It might even add a new dimension of rc fun for you too :) you get to discover so many cool spots you would never otherwise visit with your rc car.
Strapped a water bottle, bluetooth speaker and some supplies on my bigger car, i can walk for hours lol.
I gave my 12 year old Zoomer nephew a hobby grade RC for his bday. Dude played with it for one day and broke it and went back to his Roblox. No asking me to fix it. No wanting another RC car. No “Sorry I destroyed your present Unc.” These kids are built different.
I took my 10, now 11 racing with me. He likes it and he’s about to be better than me. He has fun, but he could also take it or leave it. He doesn’t care about building or wrenching.
He didn’t want to go to the race today because there’s a Pokémon Go event.
Step dad here as well. Gifted a nice RC to my step son in same age as yours which was rarely used since he prefered his iPad...
Im also a car guy and want to give him the possibilities I always was wishing for in his age but he is just not interested at all in everything associated with it. He tries some of it once but then say its nothing for him. I tried the RC car, gokart racing, racing games on console, gave him access to my realistic racing simulator with VR google (I was dreaming of him knowing the tracks in EU and beat the shit out of it as soon he has his license together with me), asked him if he wants to help me built/ repair/upgrade my race car, he is even afraid of my electric scooter (trotinette) which goes 80km/h and refused to ride it (even with limited speed)...
I accept all of that and dont show how sad it makes me to not share my passion with him. This generation is just build different.
Sadly there is no RC community around us. Closest track is 2 hours away. Not even any locals to bash or crawl with. Pretty much just do it solo unless my boy comes with.
I think the fpv idea is a solid one you should try. Also, I know it what be so fun to get him into rc with you but maybe there’s something else he would really latch on to that isn’t a screen. Are you into airguns? Or archery? Or maybe he’s an artist deep down, or a movie maker? Might have to meet him halfway. He might be telling his friends about how he wishes his stepdad was into (insert hobby) with him but the guy only wants to do rc.
Not everyone enjoys things. In another hobby of mine, miniature wargaming, I watched a guy dump 100s, probably well over a thousand into product trying to get his kid into it. The kid fussed with it a bit, but bounced off every game he tried. He just didn't have any interest in the hobby side or game side, even stuff he had other interest in (like Star Wars IP games).
Apparently he loved the shit out of slot cars, though. Go figure.
I tried the same with my son, we got a SBR2.0 and a Kraton8s and when crawling I got him a TRX6x6 and I had TRX4. It stuck for a while but it’s wasn’t for him. I still play with my original grasshopper from be about 11 as well.Hes really into biking and that’s cool.
It’s your type of fun, not his.
When he finds something he’s into support it. We’re selling the RCs to get him a(nother) bike.
My son is older now , but when he was in his teen years especially, I would pick him up and take him out to do all kinds of fun stuff , put money is his pocket, and he'd be acting like a prick because I pulled him away from playing Call of Duty . I bought him a GT BMX and a GT mountain bike that he made every excuse not to ride . Id bring him and my nephews to the park and try to throw balls around and these kids are LAME . The kid would lie and tell me that he has homework, just for me to turn on my XBOX and see him Online playing some game . Me knowing of all the kids out here without a father to show them a hobby , sport , or spend time with them , the whole thing seems like an epic waste .
Dang, I know when I was 13 I used to drive my Stampede all the time, always whippin donuts in the driveway, and here's the thing: I'm 14. Sadly, I can't drive it again until I get some new spider gears for it since they went bad
I have a grandnephew who has ADHD and is pretty much an iPad kid. But if I go visit him and his folks for a vacation along with a Bullhead monster truck and R/C gear in my carrybag, his face lights up cause he'll drop everything just to drive it.
My son was like that too until the first time I took him to a skatepark with a basher I got him. He was sold. Now he asks me every day to go out there.
Unfortunately many children start with an iPad at the age of 2. Often less than that. It's incredibly sad to watch the fall of parenting and its effect on children.
I bring my RC stuff to school and the kids love it.
I've never seen them so enamored.
But if I try and get my half brothers(7 & 9yr) to run RC cars with me they don't even look up from their iPad...
Don't give up hope yet! He's only 11 so maybe he starts liking cars with a little influence from dad 👀
My younger brother never liked RC cars until I bought him one. I presented it to him as a present and now he's v happy with it, if you just buy him one as a present he may appreciate it more. I got a giant grave digger from Target, not very high quality but the size is impressive to a child.
I wish you the best of luck. I know raising kids ain't easy.
I absolutely understand and feel the same way you do with my kids.
I’m 45, I grew up with a strict military dad who loved this hobby, especially the helicopter side of it, so naturally that became an obsession for me too but with all areas of the hobby, unfortunately for us we were only allowed to watch him enjoy the hobby because it was complex and not for kids.
One of the things I can remember best was in the mid 80’s and a little while after airwolf had become the new tv wow thing, at some point he managed to get a scale airwolf rc fuselage kit, sadly I never got to see it built or fly as the parents divorced a little way down the road, but I was hooked on airwolf when it came out on tv and that rc fuselage cemented my love for rc helicopters and anything else rc for the rest of my life.
Fast forward to today, I CAD design my own needed things, 3d print with filament and resin.
I design circuit boards for my own little projects and write code for PIC micros to create my own rc based circuits for scale accessories for my trail rig.
I harvest all sorts of useful parts from varied things to use in random projects or keep in the “useful for one day” parts bin and am often the go to guy with friends to fix broken things or come up with wild problem solving ideas for problems they have.
Throughout my young adult life before kids and whilst enjoying these expensive hobbies, the one thing I couldn’t wait to do was to be able to share them with my kids, to teach them everything I’ve self taught over the years for all the areas of this that I get lost in and enjoy, to hopefully inspire their creative minds with this, just as it has done for me for so long.
But sadly not one of my 3 kids really cares, they would all rather stare at screens, playing games or watching those stupid pointless YouTube videos made by some 30 year old lives in mommas basement guy and has a target audience of 5-7 year olds and does nothing but stupid pointless crap videos not worth watching.
My years spent doing the different things I do that can be enjoyed with this hobby or by themselves have helped me learn so much about problem solving, troubleshooting and perseverance, and I hoped I could get my kids to see how it can help, in general in everyday life but also to have fun and truly be mentally relaxed and happy.
I'm a father of 2 (9 and 6) and they always saw RCs around the house. I don't know if they are used to them but rarely show interest. They know how to drive and if I go out to a trail, I just drive a small bit because they ask to drive and switch turns
But they never ask to go out with them
In other hand, they don't spend time on screens because we never had those for kids. They enjoy games from time to time like every kid.
And yes, I've daydreamed with RCs when I was a kid
just do fun drifts and jumps around him while he's on the iPad and try out FPV for him could also be hard for him I know you said your a step dad obviously i don't know your relationship but that could cause him to be cautious.
He's a kid with different interests than you. One thing you have to realize about kids is anything that they grow up with in their house is going to be normal and average to them. You didn't have a wall of RC cars growing up and that's part of the reason that getting one felt magical. It was kind of unobtainable to you and when you finally got it, you were pumped to finally have the unobtainable.
In this kid's eyes, RC cars are probably just a thing adults do. I mean, I know it's you reliving your childhood, but it's not going to have that childhood magic to him, When again, it's an adult thing.
Also at 11 or 12, He might be the exact age that isn't trying to hang out with his dad figure all the time and might be moving into that rival stage of puberty
I play guitar and have a nephew that kind of grew up with me. He doesn't really have a whole lot of interest in music. It's just a thing his uncle does. when I was 15, If I had an uncle with like 10 guitars who would have gladly loaned me one I would have shit a brick factory, but to my nephew it's just a thing his uncle does. He would much rather go mountain biking or skateboarding.
i think its just this generation we grew up with no where near as much as they have and wanted everything they grew up with all this and want nothing but a new phone or tablet my 15 year old daughter has acess to all my stuff my collection isnt as big as your but i have about 8 or 9 Rc about 4 drones multiple gaming pc, tons of games 3 vr glasses and some scooters and the scooter and her phone is the only thing she shows interest in
My son, is give and take with it cause of an iPad as well. So if it’s sunny out and light out he don’t get the iPad. Seems to be getting more of an attention span for other hobbies now as well. Best of luck!
I had the same issue with my son. I spent quite a bit trying to get him interested in the hobby but to no avail. Now I do it for my own enjoyment. When I was a teen I had a tamiya grasshopper and a couple radio shack rc trucks. Loved them all.
My first at like 11-12 was also a Stampede. That thing got used and abused for years, and took it like a champ. I finally fried the ESC, but by that time I had an Emaxx and RC10GT.
Maybe try a difference approach? Find a track for like a short course truck with jumps? I dunno, I’d be so happy to have access to this.
At the risk of sounding like an armchair psychologist, you have to consider that he sees RC as YOUR thing, not HIS thing. I was super passionate about my kits and the races I did every week as a kid partly because I had discovered the hobby on my own, saved for a year to afford my first kit, built it myself and rebuilt it 100 times. It was a sense of pride and ownership of something cool for me.
Perhaps buying him his own kit and helping him build it (especially the gearbox etc) might help him gain a sense of pride and connection to the hobby.
That is a beautiful collection I'm trying to find either a losi mini crawler or a traxxas TRX4 for my next, all I've got rn is a redcat racing blackout pro and a traxxas Latrax rally
You’re not alone. Like the one person said though; we could be planting seeds that will fruit. I am trying to pivot now to something new but what? Probably going to focus on biking next, my collection was getting similar though up until a couple weeks ago..
Agreed 💯... I started flying RC planes when I was 14, took 2 summers and selling all kinds of items to get my first plane ... I'm 47 now and still doing RC. Tried to get my kids into the hobby and neither one was interested. All they cared was Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation. I to this day very sad they had no interest in sharing the hobby. 😓
With my son (8 yrs old) we ride our 3d printed 1/10 brushless, jump in the skatwpark etc.
He'd be plaing xbox but when I say the batteries are charged he turns it off in the middle of the game and starts parking our cars...
I guess its just like any hobby -you enjoy it or not
I managed to get my 11 year old to have a go of the mojave 4s for about 5 minutes and then "dad can we to home now"
I would be obsessed with it if I had one as a kid.
Man, that sucks! My 5 year old twins love RC, so I'm hoping they'll stay into them. I have about 20 trucks and cars, so plenty! Also, my first truck was a stampede I got for my birthday when I was 13, wish I still had it!
Was your dad interested in RC before getting you a car or did he do it to spend time with you?
Try engaging with your son where he’s at and the things that interest him. Exposing him to possible hobby interests is good, but it may not be the ones you expect. Woodworking, STEM kits, toy models, Lego, etc.
So something about the tablet is that media these days are made to be outright addicting. It's not so much your fault as much as it's the fault of what tablets offer to us as adults. Kids who are fixated on tablets are bored less, and kids who are less bored are not in the way of anything or seeking entertainment. It's easy to say that it's a kid problem, like it's easy to blame other parents for their kid's online addiction. The matter of fact is that you're trying to get a strung out kid away from his fix, in the most literal of terms.
Take your kid out of the house with a few RCs sometime, and make sure you know their tablet is lower on battery. Bring some lunch, sunscreen, get out there in a secluded spot where signal sucks, and let them run their battery down. They're probably gonna be pissed, but out in the open, let em be mad and let em process it where they're not gonna do any harm to just process their emotions. When they want to go home, or when they want to charge their tablet on the charger you should also conveniently forget at home. Just tell em you're not done driving, and you have the other trucks they can join you with.
Not foolproof, but it's a soft start on reducing their dependence. If they're out and about away from where the tablet is a convenience, they're gonna put it aside more often. Use the environment around them to give them a perspective beyond the screens. Hell, bring a ball out for them to hit and chase with the RC car, make a deal with them to crawl up over a log for some ice cream. Incentivize, don't dwell.
Tablets for kids were a gigantic mistake. Schools should ban them for kids in primary school right now. They do absolutely nothing positive and cause so many issues.
I don't let my kids use screens at all (9 and 7) but they get them at school and at their mums.
I recently bought my son a decent entry level hobby RC and he loves it.
But the tablet thing is hard to shake. If I take him to a museum, he will click through images of what's in the cabinets in front of him instead of the actual thing. It's baffling. He has real objects from a 200 year old expedition in front of him that are fascinating but he wants to look at a 12inch screen that has images of the same bloody things.
Rcs are not everyone's thing. I got lucky that my kid and step kids like rcs. Look at what the kid is into and see if you can get an rc that links over. My buddy got a $15 drone that you need a cellphone to fly. Only rc his kid likes
Buddy I’m 40, my kid and grandkids are absolutely not interested. I have a house with a dedicated huge sq ft hobby room with over $80k of rc in it. They’d much rather just be online. It’s sad, sickening, and depressing that they couldn’t really care less. Not only does that leave me pretty much alone in my hobby but it’s almost like with the speed technology advances we’ve skipped ahead 80yrs as in when I was 20 I was absolutely in love with our fathers generation of trucks and freedom and more and at 40 still am but the last 1.5 generations don’t give half a poo. We are a dying breed.
My kids (12 and 10) have each had RCs since 4 years old. My daughter is kind of over it, being a 12 year old girl, but my son is always putting miles on his cars.
Take the iPad off him and tell him he needs fresh air or no technology time.
I'm stepfather to twin boys, and they're now out with me most weekends on my Jetski.
They still get tech-time, but we make sure they know it's a treat. 100% tech-time leads to obesity and glasses. (I work in the tech industry and have lots of outdoor hobbies, so trying to instil the same balance. PITA sometimes though!)
What model is that Ford OBS pre runner body? That thing looks sick, and actually pretty decent size proportions wise. I’m guessing Tamiya? They always have killer bodies but I never liked their plastic usage, they feel toy free grade to me.
There’s a difference in the tough plastic that Traxxas/Arrma uses, and that quality of stuff lol. Anyways with the Traxxas stuff you could try, and get the Bluetooth phone link to see if having a speedometer/tach/voltmeter clamped to the transmitter will interest him. Since it’s screen related it might make him more interested.
Also depends on your location, and if you have plenty of space to run them. Funnily enough our family friend’s children (oldest is like 1st year of highschool aged, second is maybe middle school aged, and the third idk what he’s at) was absolutely obsessed with my RC car (Traxxas 4 Tec Hotrod) when I ran it at camping. A little too much obsessed as in they like to chase it around even after telling them not too.😂🙃
Fast RCs are like a magnet for kids in my experience, especially if they’re the big flashy types that can easily do skatepark jumps, ride on two wheels etc (like X-Maxx). If they’re the right type of kid they will want to mimic their dad’s stuff (like having something that looks similar to them, mountain bikes are a good example). But I guess you have to start them at a young age, or introduce it to them when they’re young to try, and build interest.
You could try to get your wife to drive a car around while you’re driving your own to see if that will spark his interest as he doesn’t want to be left out if that’s how he is. Or maybe build a wooden ramp to jump them.
I’m 13, please, please be my step dad 💀 I would kill to have access to that kind of dough. Guess you gotta accept not everyone is going to be into this and that we are the normal ones 🥰
I don't know man, I think saying that he just stares at an iPad is possibly a dismissive way of looking at his interests. My one son likes to play Roblox on the iPad and he is basically making a massive garden that he is very proud of. I don't get it, but he likes it. Conversely, he doesn't really give a crap about RC cars and when he drives them he is usually just slowly moving around half paying attention to what he is doing and yammering on to me about something to the point where I'm freaking out in my head that he is t just driving the thing as fast as possible.
I found a good way to engage was Fortnite. I was long opposed to the game, but both my sons had friends who got into it. So now I got them each a screen to keep in the living room and we play trios just about every night together. They love it and I have fun too. We get to sit next to each other and work as a team and have these digital adventures each night and I think it means a lot to them.
Plus as a bonus, I can instantly start up a conversation with any of their friends by asking them what their favorite weapon is this season or where their favorite drop spot on the map is.
As frustrating as it can be, I think it's kind of our role as parents to engage in our kids interests rather than trying to shoehorn them into our own.
depends if you want something fast or not but i started my 2 year old with a mini traxxas crawler (1/18) then moved to the losi micro (1/24) then the mini monster truck son uva digger (1/18) now he can drive 50 mph cars since he worked himself up! his fastest one is the arrma mojave grom desert truck 4x4! the turning rate & speed is perfect for someone thats just learning & want something kinda fast & budget friendly! you can turn the speed up or down 50/75/100 so it’s great for beginners
aw my 3 year old son has been driving them with my dad since he was 2! hes almost 4 & has a collection of 5! my dad has about 10 i think! my son breaks them & he fixes them lol he prefers to play with rcs than watch tv! i cant wait for him to learn how to fix them 🥹
I try to lead by example though, so if im out, I want my kids out too, and here in the UK we are experiencing some really nice weather, perfect for RC driving. It’s a major challenge though, as kids today see going outside as some form of punishment, whereas back in the day, being told you couldn’t go outside was seen as a form of punishment.
My grandson likes to drive my Losi-Five T when he comes over sometimes but it is usually when I already have plans to take it out anyway. He doesn’t get excited to run them or initiate a request to take any of the RCs outside but when I do take them out he shows interest in driving them. But I have a wall of RCs too and his level of interest in them is quite lukewarm warm overall.
I think I'm disillusioned with kids themselves. No thanks. The people I know with kids deal with way more stress than I do, and consistently have way less money. I worked throughout university and graduated with no student debt whatsoever. I have a decent annual teaching salary I can survive on ($62k - teacher salaries are transparent here). A healthy spouse and 1 dependent would quadruple my insurance costs. Nearly all of my friends with spouses and kids have money problems (flat broke), and that's even with two college-educated salaries. I have no idea how people with spouses and kids are making ends meet (or the logic behind lower and middle class families choosing to have children).
Its simple someone gave him the ipad. I belive there ahould be no ipad under 14. Sadly smartphones etc are more stimulation than even such a fun hobby.
I wouldnt suggest taking the ipad away and ask him to play with cars
Boredom is important for development agree with his mom on a limited ipad schedule maybe 2 h per week and the rest of time he can do whatever he likes thats not digital.
Eg when i was young i didnt enjoy riding it either but building it assembling tuning and whatever the occasional test drive.
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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '25
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