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| To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com |
Share the Wealth by Jennifer Lindsay |
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The holiday train makes its way around the tree and through tunnels of brightly wrapped packages. |
It’s coming on Christmas time, and what better way to share our World’s Greatest Hobby than with our little ones? One of my favorite things about Christmas is the train that runs around the tree. My sister, Stephanie, and I have a tradition of putting the gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve after our younger siblings have gone to bed. We love making tunnels and bridges out of brightly-decorated packages and then sitting back and watching the train run with only the Christmas lights and train headlamp for illumination. I’ve delightedly watched as eyes light up when a very first, or much desired train set is received and listened as peels of laughter fill the room. Another family tradition is attending a local holiday train show. While the faces may change, one thing remains the same: the rapture on the children’s (and adults’) faces as they stare in wonder at the creative layouts that make up the show. My role at the show has changed since my dad started MRN; I’m no longer just a spectator. Over the past several years, MRN has had a booth there to help promote model railroading. |
| Every year we have HO, N, and Z scale Christmas and candy trains running around a small decorated tree with my sister’s and my trademark bridges and tunnels made out of packages. I always have to explain to disappointed children that the gifts aren’t real, but the candy cane I give them typically makes up for it. | |
 More often than not, the young ones have a longer attention span than adults when it comes to watching trains run around the layout. Here, Tyler Pratt and another young man watch as a winter wonderland is brought to life. |
One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is how long attention spans get when trains are involved. More often than not, it is the adult who has to drag the child away from the layout to move onto the next. These same children usually beg to take home a train set of their own. Trains sets offer hours of imaginative playtime and teach valuable lessons such as as sharing, responsibility, safety, and history. Train sets also are a great way for families to share time together. Whether the track is laid out on the carpet and put away when finished, or becomes part of a pemanant layout, parents, grandparents, and their children can have hours of fun making up stories, or having weird and wacky train chases on the track. The possibilities are endless! |
| While you’re at it, why not teach your little one about safety and trains? Share with them the importance of not putting things on the track for a train to run over, and how to cross the tracks responsibly and safely. This issue of Model Railroad News will include a section devoted to train sets and other items that will be available for the Christmas season. So, go ahead and make someone’s day. Share your love of model railroading with a little one this holiday season. They are, after all, our future. |
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Little Sarah Pratt watches as MRN's Christmas train run around the Chistmas Tree. |
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Jennifer Lindsay |
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| To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com | |
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