Pinewood Derby

Saturday was Levi's first Pinewood Derby. Throughout the week, prior to Saturday, David and Levi had been working on his skateboard...yes, I said skateboard. Before they started, David got online and let Levi pick out the style of his car. Well, that is what he thought would happen but out of all the cars there had to be one skateboard and of course that was what Levi picked! Earlier that week, David used a friend's scroll saw (THANK YOU Alex Andrasko!) to get the block of wood the shape that it needed to be and Levi did the rest....well, with the help of Daddy guiding him along the way. Look at those dirty boy nails!

I didn't get that "final look" picture but his is the first one in the box (the gold one....and only skateboard!)
I have to say that I was very proud of Levi on Saturday. First, he was in the running for "The best of Show" award. He didn't win and after what happened to the poor kid while the actual racing started, I really wish that he would have. But this is where I was proud of him. I'm sure he was embarrassed and was confused but he made it through it without getting mad or sad....though, maybe he was sad in his heart and just didn't show it. He went up to the top of the track to race his car with his opponent and one of his wheels fell off before they even started the race! To make it worse, when they got the wheel back, they realized that the wood had chipped away from where the nail and wheel would go! As you can imagine, it pretty much made it impossible for him to race. Each time he tried, his skateboard just fell off the track....each time in front of everyone. But everyone was gracious about it; even the little boy racing him. That boy could have made a big deal out of winning against Levi but he didn't. This picture below is of Marcy (Levi's Den leader), Levi, David, and Laramie trying to hurry to get it fixed before the "loser's round" began. Laramie is the son of a good friend of mine, Robin. Just like my friend, Laramie is a good example of wanting to help and doing what is right. I was proud of Laramie as he tried to hurry and help David even without being asked.

So, it came time for Levi to race once more time but it didn't even make it to the end of the track. But like our ever-so-positive den leader said, "Hey, at least it stayed together this time!" (as she yelled cheers for him) we finally found some success! However, Levi was ready to leave after that. Poor kid....and poor Daddy. I don't know who felt worse. He felt bad about it breaking in front of everyone. Not bad for himself, he felt bad for Levi. But we dusted off the yucky feelings and let Levi pick where he wanted to eat for lunch after the derby and let him play his little heart out on the PlayStation!

I kept thinking throughout the day, after the derby, about how many times I will see things like this happen throughout my experience as a parent. How many times will I want to swoop in and take my children out of certain situations? Will I be wise enough to NOT swoop in and let them learn from their own experiences and consequences or will I not be able to take it and jump right in and bandage up the wounds? Either one is not an easy choice, I guess.