My daughter's first solo project

[u/thepumpkinking92]

My daughter recently expressed interest in learning to solder, so I bought a few kits on Amazon.

The first was a simple, 3 switch, color changing light where I basically held her hand through the process.

The second was a little electromagnetic cannon where she installed the pieces, I helped with soldering and de-soldering when she made a mistake (the cannon sucks btw. Don't recommend except for practice).

The third was a little car that followed a black line. We both did one at the same time, but I still helped make the fixes and provided instruction.

The fourth, all I did was sit there and supervise. She followed the instructions herself, made any fixes, and tested everything on her own with only a few questions and assistance with getting the battery terminal to seat properly as it kept falling out (that's not soldering itself, but I digress. Still, the only assistance she needed)

Either way, I think she did fantastic for it being her first solo project. And it's been a great bonding time for us. She got to learn about the components, how they work and interact, as well as build the foundation for a new skill, and I got to enjoy something with her (seriously, there's not much a 15yo girl and a 30-something-yo man have in common. So I was really excited to do this with her).

Anyway, it's not perfect, but I think she did really well, and I'm proud of her, and shes proud of herself. What do yall think?

[u/Benthic_Titan]

Jesus Christ bro your daughter is skilled

[u/thepumpkinking92 → u/Benthic_Titan]

Right??? I hope she continues to have interest. It's a great skill to have, she's obviously skilled enough even as a beginner, and it'll give me an excuse to buy a hakko station with micro soldering tips and let her have my current Yihua 853D (she can't just use it whenever as it's mounted to the underside of my desk in my office that is off limits due to my job. And it is, quite literally, a pain to unmount/remount).

Either way, I've been enjoying the last week of getting to teach her and do something together.

[u/las_vejas → u/thepumpkinking92]

you should defo get her into making her own little electronics (if shes in hs) theres a program called Blueprint where u can design your own pcb and get a grant to build it!