I've got a topic that is probably going to get heated enough to eventually get locked up by the moderator. :-)

Several years ago, I read that most prison inmates never had a pet when they were kids. The researcher's conclusion was that learning to care for a pet probably would have led to more responsible behavior as an adult.

So, do you guys think that kids who grow up with model airplanes (or trains) have a better chance of becoming good adults?

Of course, since this question is being posed to a bunch of model airplane nuts, I suspect that positive responses are going to be predominant. But that's too easy. Tell me WHY you think so. (Or DON'T think so.)

I was sort of strange as a child. I started out as an ax murderer and then eventually ended up building model airplanes.


Sorry about that.. I couldn't resist.

This reminds me of several articles I've read. One, in a model airplane magazine, made exactly that point.

Let me tell you about just one more. This was from Reader's Digest, many years ago. I've forgotten the source of the study, but the observation of the study was that the most successful people, be they from industry or the military, shared a common experience. That experience, according to the study, was participation in high school marching band. They reasoned that the discipline to march and the talent to learn an instrument were enhanced by the teamwork and blah blah blah....

So, of course, the reader is left to draw his own conclusions. Personally, I think if you teach music and manage a marching band, you're inclined to place great importance on those activities. Do you suppose the same might apply to hobbyists?

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

I believe that anytime you get a young person involved in activities that have a positive influence it will help them grow as a person and hopefully steer them away from negative influences. There's a lot worse and more expensive things a kid could be doing than building and flying RC planes. If you know a kid who is interested in flying but maybe mom (dad is probably not around) can't afford it then take up a collection at the field and buy him/her a trainer (or get one donated) and teach them. If it saves that one kid from drugs and crime/prison and maybe turns into a lifelong passion as it has with so many of us here then it will be the best time and money you ever spent.

I was a criminal. Most of the friends from my youth are dead or in prison. The positive role models that I met at the flying field did change my life. Now, I am a fairly wealthy man and alive to boot. Thats no BS.

My thinking is along the lines of what scar said. If the kid has a role model to spend the time and effort of teaching him/her to fly. He/she will be a better human being. It really is that simple.

David

what you do as a kid has everything to do with what you become as an adult.

I don't think it's a true statement to say someone is bad or even more prone to be a trouble maker because they didn't do model planes as a kid. But the kids need to do something to keep them occupied and learning both skills and responsibility, model plane fills that on many levels.

I still believe my math skills came from being in band as a kid. My staying out of trouble came from being brought up in a Christiane family and staying active in model planes as well as learning basic mechanical fundamentals from building planes and modifying model engines. This knowledge also help in science class which ultimately landed my current job

Anything that a kid participates in that encourages honesty, selflessness, friendship, commitment and working hard to succeed is going to make them a better person doesnt really matter what it is.. I see all of these virtues in the behaviour of most RC pilots. I would say RC could be a deterrent to hacking people up.

I got into my share of troubles when a kid and was also very into models (both plastic and flying balsa models). The dumb stuff I ended up doing, might be considered typical teenage stupidity. However, it still was anti establishment behavior and where it came from I do not know. The friends I was hanging around with were certainly an influence, but I still decided to do it!

At some point I determined the direction I was headed was going to have a negative outcome and stopped doing those things. I think having a girl friend had more to do with keeping me out of trouble then my models did!

I do however believe there are great therapeutic benefits and advantages to being involved in some type of hobby! The benefit is similar to going for a walk or exercising

Im not sure that I would say its just the airplanes that help them, although giving them something positive to do with their time builds charactor and maturity.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet, is that kids cant afford 500 dollar airplanes alone...and cant drive themselves to the feild. It takes active parenting as well, which I think would be the real cause of any link to positive behavior you would find in these kids.

I'm a harsh critic on parenting. I don't like the direction that our country is shifting into where everything is becomming kid-safe and kid-freindly, and is being forced in that direction by a gov't that is laying down to lazy parents. My mom wouldnt let me bring even a Metallica CD into the house before i was about 15...I wasnt allowed to play really violent games (doom maybe sometimes, but never too much)...my parents never had to guess where I was, they knew...Sure, i went through my phase of lying, skipping school, doing bad in school, hanging out with the dumbest group of guys I could find...but I couldnt get away with it because my parents would be right there on me the second i tried to screw up.

Now, tv and radio and even the internet have to be censored because a large number of parents can't even be bothered to monitor what their kids are doing, so they just expect everyone else to bear the burden of content-control....which is wrong on so many levels.

But it seems to be, that the parents of the kids at the feilds do a good job, as not only are the kids good pilots, have high attention spans, and are very mature, they are all very well adjusted to being in a group of -mainly- adults and yet still retain their (in a good way) childishness that makes sure they still enjoy being a kid.