I have never been to one of these events although I imagine the clientele to be similar to the people who flock to my hometown's annual demo derby (which includes me so I'm not bashing). What I do know is kids, especially boys, LOVE these things. I remember my brother's obsession and how he would look at the program booklet for weeks after my dad brought him to a monster truck rally. Our school had a few library books about them in the elementary section and, of course, the boys overlooked the beautifully illustrated and culturally significant Caldecott medal winners and beloved timeless classics for those dumb truck books about "Big Foot" and "Grave Digger".
Ben has not been to a show yet but he has some toy trucks and he and Tessa are both big fans of the show "Blaze and the Monster Machines". I am a fan of it too and not only because it creates a diversion so I can take a shower. It teaches STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) which, I am becoming more and more convinced, are the skills a student needs to succeed and have jobs waiting for them after college. If you know me you know that I do not gravitate toward these subjects although I was a good geometry student (I got the "4 quarters of A's" award only during the geometry year which was 10th grade!) and our math teacher always said that people who are good at geometry are different than others who might enjoy algebra and other types of math. Different how, I don't know. Anyway, not having "practical" interests and studying something more challenging in college is something I regret even though I have to acknowledge and accept that I am who I am. However, I hope that these little kids I am raising, although they have years to find out, are different than me. When they watch Blaze and I hear them yelling about levers and wedges and trajectory and other science and physics related topics it makes me happy. It seems to be building a good foundation for being interested in science. I hope they enjoy researching obscure aspects of history and reading endless articles about family dynamics and child development but there are few employers out there who want to pay a person for those interests so...
Look at those bananas flying through the air! I wonder what is going to happen??
The kids had fun being up close to the trucks. The tires were really tall but what really stood out to me was how wide they were!
One of these years someone (Justin) will probably take the kids to a monster truck show! I'll pack the ear protection!
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