FIRST Babies

[Carolyn_Grace]

It seems like a lot of FIRST alumni have reached the age where they're starting their own families. I'm seeing more and more FIRST Babies at events, and I am LOVING it.

As a sucker for robots and (other people's) babies, I'd love for people to use this thread and post pictures of their adorable second generation FIRST children rocking out at FIRST events.

[Brandon Holley]

I have heard that team 88 (TJ^2) actually has a full-on 2nd generation FIRSTer. A member of the founding TJ^2 team had a child and that child is now high-school aged and is participating on TJ^2.

That is incredible!

-Brando

[Zflash]

Attached is a picture of my daughter Zoey Elizabeth Zende (2yrs Old) she was born January 19th 2012 and has been attending F.I.R.S.T. events all her life. I started freshman year in high school with FRC team 281 from 1999-2000. I then moved on to FRC team 507 from 2001-2003. In 2004 my family and others started FRC team 1319 and I have been with them ever since.

I very much look forward to the day when Zoey can participate in FLL, FTC and eventually FRC.

[OZ_341]

Eric (Angry Eric) & Kim Eckhardt are both experienced FIRST mentors and I believe alumni. They brought their adorable little baby daughter to FLR.

She was even sporting a "red mohawk" hat.
Just awesome.

[ElvisMom]

Argos FRC Team 1756 has quite a few young fans. They were all decked out in "game day" bibs and team gear at Central Illinois. Not sure if they are legacy FIRSTers, but they are cute!

[drwisley]

Originally Posted by ElvisMom

Argos FRC Team 1756 has quite a few young fans. They were all decked out in "game day" bibs and team gear at Central Illinois. Not sure if they are legacy FIRSTers, but they are cute!

Thanks for noticing! Although I'm the only mentor to have a kid old enough to participate this year, we have 14 other daughters ranging from infants to 6 years old and 2 boys. They are regularly at our team meetings. I half joke about spawning an all girls team in the future.

Sometimes they are insightful beyond their years. My personal favorite quote from my, then 4 year old, daughter is, "if it works, who cares?" She told that to me and four mentors that were discussing how terrible something looked after hours

[RogerR]

Wyatt is one of four thoroughbot babies (thoroughbabies?). Here he is checking to make sure the field is within spec thursday night. He had to be sure everything was +/- 1".

[loyal]

This post really makes me smile
keep it up.

[StaceyJ]

Found a picture of Austin from 1999 in that blue onsie. Boy is he going to kill me!

[kenavt]

The head mentors of 2337, Clinton and Brandi Bolinger (Clint is a CD user), had Lucas before the 2011 build season, and he's been to every team competition that I can remember, and almost all of the build season meetings. Picture shamelessly taken from Daniel Ernst's 2012 MSC collection from post-eliminations Saturday - the best one I could find on short notice.

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by kenavt

The head mentors of 2337, Clinton and Brandi Bolinger (Clint is a CD user), had Lucas before the 2011 build season, and he's been to every team competition that I can remember, and almost all of the build season meetings. Picture shamelessly taken from Daniel Ernst's 2012 MSC collection from post-eliminations Saturday - the best one I could find on short notice.

I believe there is a G31 foul happening in this picture
(3 balls in the corral for extended time)

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by kenavt

The head mentors of 2337, Clinton and Brandi Bolinger (Clint is a CD user), had Lucas before the 2011 build season, and he's been to every team competition that I can remember, and almost all of the build season meetings. Picture shamelessly taken from Daniel Ernst's 2012 MSC collection from post-eliminations Saturday - the best one I could find on short notice.

Minibot!

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Minibot!

I gotta admit to favoritism. Lucas Minibot Bolinger is the greatest.

He's already fulfilled the roles of team lead (pointing to students and giving directions enthusiastically), FTA (all you have to do is stare down the robots on the field until the light turns green, right?) and announcer (baby on a mic: nothing better)

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Carolyn_Grace

I gotta admit to favoritism. Lucas Minibot Bolinger is the greatest.

He's already fulfilled the roles of team lead (pointing to students and giving directions enthusiastically), FTA (all you have to do is state down the robots on the field until the light turns green, right?) and announcer (baby on a mic: nothing better)

Considering that he can already repair the robot on his own (I saw pictures of this) and is already MCing matches it's just a matter of time before he's leading the Enginerds to Einstein (probably by the time he's 6).

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Considering that he can already repair the robot on his own (I saw pictures of this) and is already MCing matches it's just a matter of time before he's leading the Enginerds to Einstein (probably by the time he's 6).

...except that the baseline age for volunteering at CMP is 16.

Not trying to be Debbie Downer, but even with all the cute, it is your responsibility as a FIRST volunteer to know the rules with children at the event. It's not trying to tell you how to parent, it's a liability concern - we want to keep everyone having a good, safe time!

This means realizing that exploding Clippard tanks or stray balls could happen. This means that FRC events are germ cesspools. This means that there are noise concerns, and just like safety glasses, you may want to invest in good hearing protection. Most importantly, it is in the VC manual that no volunteer should ever be directly in charge of a minor while on the clock.

Sounds like common sense, but sometimes we need to be reminded of these things. As a VC there is a happy medium here - I love to see lots of great pictures during breaks, and if a child is over 13 (or 16 at CMP), a VC will usually try to pair parents and children volunteering in the same location together so they're on common schedules.

Just stay safe out there. We want to see families have a great FIRST experience!