Who among us had/has a parent who flew/flies?

I share the same passion and get giddy when my children (7 and 2)
express an interest in going flying! Up until recently, we would take
family trips up to the airport and throw the kids bikes in the back of
my truck... I would wash and wax the plane and the kids would ride
their bikes around our fairly vacant airport. (Okay, so my two year
old son would sit in the airplane, pulling and pushing anything he
could get his hands on, while my seven year old daughter would ride her
bike around the airport). I would want to go up for a quick spin
around the pattern and would ask my daughter if she would want to go
for a quick ride, to which she would respond, "No thanks... I'll just
ride my bike around..." OUCH!!!

Well... about a month ago, my daughter said, "daddy, will you teach me
how to fly?" I told my wife, "gotta go!!! I'm going to give my first
"unofficial" flying lesson!!! Woo Hoo!!!". My daughter and I went up
to about 5,500 feet and I started explaining the horizon, showed her
the altimeter and what it does when you pull back on the yoke and what
it does when you push forward on the yoke... Showed her the VSI and
it's reactions, then the DG... I then had her peforming shallow turns,
while maintaining altitude. It would often require a little nudge with
my thumb to get her back down to altitude, or a tug of the finger to
get her back up to altitude, but for the most part, I would point out
the VSI and point out that it was going down and that she needed to
pull back gently and visa-versa. So, we did this for about an hour and
believe it or not, I think she got it, to some extent??? She then
asked me what every single instrument in the plane was for and
expressed a genuine interest in hearing my response!

I am soooo stoked about this, and look forward to MANY trips as she
gets older, where I can sit back and let her get us from point A to
point B, because she wants to!!!

1 year old is still young and all that seems to happen at that point is
the engine noise puts them right to sleep. I'm sure your wife will
come around in time and you can start taking the family on those trips
that will forever be engrained in their minds!

My friends think I'm a little nuts because I want to continue teaching
my seven year old to fly, so I'm glad to hear that there are others who
feel the same way!

Best of luck!
Todd