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Posts Tagged ‘kids’
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Formula None
By Daddy Clay Thursday, November 29th, 2012
The echoes of Formula One are still ringing in Austin this week, and it has me thinking about college tuition.
A couple weekends ago, in a tune up for the big race, the track operators at The Circuit of the Americas organized an event that encouraged participants to speed around the 3.4 mile track as fast as they wanted to. On foot.
Billed as the “Formula Run” the race looked to me like the perfect way to get a great look at the track and facility without shelling out the big bucks for a weekend pass. It was also the ideal event to lure my son into running a race with me. Read the rest of this entry »
Austin Goes Crazy for F1: Are Hot Wheels to Blame?
By Daddy Clay Friday, November 16th, 2012
Another post in my ongoing work with Chevy Culture, a lifestyle and auto site sponsored by Chevrolet. Click through for the full post on Chevy Culture, and come back in the next few weeks and months for more.
My home town of Austin has gone completely car crazy. The first Formula One race held in the last five years is happening right here on Sunday, and we’ve all lost our minds. The news coverage of the traffic around The Circuit of the Americas race track is wall-to-wall. Most of downtown is shut down.
Half the citizenry is hunkered down muttering that the whole event is “un-Austin” in its excess (parties and clubs with $500+ admission charges are often cited by this faction), and half the citizenry is wearing headphones and partying with a dude from Montreal named Christoph (or waiting in traffic to do so).
It’s an all consuming mania. They even help a footrace around the track last week. Can you imagine? Oh, right, I did that with my older son last week. So cool!
I am both getting the hell out of town and jumping in to Formula One Madness with both feet — heading to a ranch south and east of town to rendezvous with a big group of friends who have come down for the race. It’s unclear whether I will make it to the track.
So where does all this car nuttiness come from? How could we all be so overwhelmed with excitement — positive or negative — about cars rolling around a track. Maybe it starts early in childhood. Maybe it starts with that very first Hot Wheels.
My most recent post over at the Chevy Culture site takes a look at the roots of a boy and his car obsession. It all starts with cleaning out the toy box.
Gentlemen and ladies, start your engines.
A Pipsqueak That Could Be Huge: Yip Yap Nears Due Date
By Daddy Clay Friday, November 2nd, 2012
As a general rule, I’m better at identifying bad ideas than good ones.
But this is a good idea.
Recently featured on Mashable, the Pipsqueak from Yip Yap is an MP3 player and phone that is safe to hand over to kids as young as three. The key here: the handset is essentially a glorified, multifunctional Bluetooth headset — an accessory to mom or dad’s smart phone — that is shaped like a “real” phone.
Read the rest of this entry »
Raising Cheaters
By Daddy Clay Thursday, November 1st, 2012
Recently I’ve heard lots of parents expressing concerns about the prevalence of cheating in our society. These moms and dads point to elite sports and even the most prestigious institutions of higher learning and worry that cheating has become the norm.
Well, duh. What a bunch of suckers.
Parents that live in the real world are so over honesty. We know that our kids are unlikely to get ahead if they are encumbered with notions of fair play, mindless rule following, and namby pamby truth telling.
For those of you still admiring worn out role models like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Greg LeMond, I have a couple of pointers for raising effective cheaters. Read the rest of this entry »
