Setting a Good Example

In this case, it was what I didn’t do that hopefully left an impression.

But first, a little back story.

At the boy’s Cub Scout meeting, I came up with the notion of making some kind of home made rocket. Not just one to build, but one that would actually launch. I didn’t have any bright ideas off the top of my head, but a little googling about revealed a clever design: building a rocket around an old 35-mm film cannister and using an Alka Selzer and water to fuel it.

I was in luck, because the Wife happened to have a bunch of old cannisters. Unfortunately, the caps were the type that fit over the edges, rather than a plug-style cap that pushed down inside the cannister. But I was resourceful and fashioned several “corks” out of oak. I managed to get them to a pretty good fit and my test with one of them allowed for a pretty good pop. That seemed promising, so I went with it.

I assembled the other things I needed and then at the end of our Den meeting, I had them start building their rockets. I explained what we’d be doing and they were all quite excited. Unfortunately, the reality didn’t live up to the hype. The wood was too slick and wouldn’t hold well enough to build up some good pressure to really launch the rockets.

This annoyed me.

So I kind of set my mind to thinking about it in the background- how could I increase the friction of the cork with the cannister while still maintaining a decent seal? The idea that occurred was to coat the cork with a few layers of polyurethane. I’ve noticed in the past the poly has a kind of tacky quality to it and doesn’t slide well on plastic, so perhaps this would give the desired result.

So this afternoon, with the kids home on schedule half-day, I sat down with the corks and a can of polyurethane. To coat the cork I simply drove a drywall screw a turn or so into the wood then, using the screw as a handle, I dipped the cork in the poly. Upon pulling it out, I held it over the can and let it drip and then began rolling the screw in my fingers to try and work off the last bit of the poly.

By this point, both kids had joined me at the table, temporarily interested in what I was doing. I was explaining the basic idea to them when my fingers fumbled the cork and it dropped- PLUNK!– into the can of poly.

I was pissed- but I didn’t say a thing. I just sat there, staring at it. It was just the sort of clumsy thing that drives me crazy.

Then I realized, both kids had fallen completely silent and were just staring at… me. They were waiting. Waiting and watching to see what I was going to do. Would I blow my stack? Would I start swearing like sailor and berate myself for my clumsiness? WHAT WILL DAD DO?

In the end, I let out a sigh. I got up. I went into the garage and found my needle nose pliers. I brought these back into the house and plucked the cork out of the can of poly, then started the whole process over again of trying to get the last bit of drips off it.

PLUNK!

It slipped out of the pliers and fell right back into the can. Again, I just stared at it, and the kids watched me. After a second or so, as I began to reach back into the can with the pliers, at which point the boy observed “Guess it’s a good thing you got those pliers, huh Dad?” I chuckled, and so did both kids.

This time around, I made sure not to do anything over the can and wiped off the excess using a foam brush.

I remember things from when I was growing up that my parents don’t remember. All kinds of things- some impressionable and some not. I don’t know that there’s any particular rhyme or reason to them, they are just scenes that, for whatever reason, stuck with me for all these years. I presume the boy and the lass will be the same. I don’t know if this one in particular will stick with them, though I suspect it might as much as I could anything like that based on their intense observance of the key moments.

We stress to the kids that things don’t always go right or the way you expect them to and that it happens for everyone and in anything. Major things like people getting sick and minor things like Cub Scout corks that get dropped into polyurethane cans. We try to impress upon them that the important thing is not that it happened, but how they react to what happens. Don’t lose your cool; if it’s a problem, think about how to solve it. Don’t get upset, don’t throw tantrums; don’t start crying; don’t get mad. None of that helps.

Maybe, today was an example they’ll remember.