Sometimes the fun activities that our kids become involved in provide lessons well beyond what we would expect. Some of these lessons are well known – many sports help to teach kids discipline and teamwork. Scouting helps to teach a variety of basic principles including many involving safety – I know that my son and his friends took all of the lessons from earning their Whittling Chips seriously. We still hear them reminding each other of the blood circle (for those without scouts, this is the circle that one can make with an extended arm and a carving knife – the rule is everyone needs to be out of each other’s blood circle).

Over the last couple of months, I’ve realized that my son’s newest hobby is teaching him many advanced safety lessons that will carry over well when gets older. Much of it is safety training that should be taught to adults on worksites.

My 11 year old son recently acquired a Traxxas Slash RC car through a lot of saving and a lot of chores. While learning how to cut the grass and the associated safety issues with lawn mowers is a post for a different day, this whole process has been a learning experience for him.

One of the chores was cutting the grass, which helped to teach him about lawn mower safety and the use of some basic PPE – eye protection and ear protection. Most modern lawn mowers include their own version of a simple “lock out tag out” in that an additional handle needs to be held in the closed position to operate and if it is let go, the mower shuts down. This is a good start to understanding that certain tools should only be energized when being operated in a safe manner.

When he received his Slash, he learned several new safety concepts. The first has to do with batteries and charging. His slightly older cousin, who is also involved in RC cars, had warned him that you need to be careful with Lithium Ion RC car batteries. With a little bit of extra research, my son has learned that you need to physically inspect the battery pack on a regular basis to make sure that there is no physical damage to the battery. Each time he either plugs in the battery or unplugs the battery, he checks the battery to make sure that there are no bulges in the battery or damage to the battery that causes the casing to open. He has also learned that care needs to be taken in charging batteries through using appropriate battery chargers and using a fire resistant battery charging case to reduce the risk of damage in the event of problems.  Everything in the list below while directed towards the use of an RC car can be applied to most tools used in the workplace:

• Never leave batteries to charge unattended.
• Remove the batteries from the model while charging.
• Allow the battery packs to cool off between runs (before charging).
• Always unplug the battery from the electronic speed control when the model is not in use and when it is being stored or transported.
• Do not use battery packs that have been damaged in any way.
• Do not use battery packs that have damaged wiring, exposed wiring, or a damaged connector

The second concept is an extension of the “lock out tag out” concept that I mentioned earlier is getting reinforced for him with his RC car. RC cars are paired to their controllers which allows multiple cars to be operated by multiple users in the same area. As a result, he has learned that when he is turning on his car, the controller gets turned on before the speed controller on the car is powered on. This prevents the car from running out of control when it is turned on. While this is not “lock out tag out” in the traditional sense, it has taught him to always think about procedures when turning things on and off as well as making sure that motors and controls are de-energized before working on them.

The third concept that he has learned from using his RC car involves situational awareness. At the most basic level, he has learned to know the limits of the radio control of his car both from radio distance and visual limitations so that he does not operate the car unsafely in a way that can hurt other people or damage other property or his car. More importantly, he has learned to be aware of any potential issues in the area in which he is operating his car – he has developed a solid idea of whether he has enough room to operate the car or if there are objects in the area that represent a danger to himself, others, or his car.

I’m glad that he is learning these in a way that he is able to understand how basic safety rules work and is able to understand the next phases of those rules. This learning process has been helpful because it is not just me as a parent putting a rule in place. He sees the rules in the manual for his car and has begun to understand how they keep him safe, keep others around him safe, and protect his investment in his car.  The fact that he is learning them while having fun makes me hopeful that they will continually be reinforced for him – I know that I have seen him explain these concepts to friends when they use his car.