My son is 10. He's more interested in video games than airplanes, so I get
him the occasional flying video game and let him fly MS Flight Simulator on
my PC with the yoke. I buy him cheap electric rc planes that if they break,
they don't break my heart or my temper. These he loves and plays with
without coaxing. We also fly model rockets.

We only live 60 miles from Oshkosh, so museums have always been my secret
weapon, he loves spending the day with dad at an aviation museum, and
because we are so close, we can go any time. We've been to several others
and he's always excited and happy to go.

I'm always eager to answer his questions about anything aviation related,
but I don't force too much upon him. When I was studying for my CFI
certificate, I used him as a student and he loved it. I'd ask him questions
and then explain the answers to him. He really enjoyed it when we did it
with other pilots kids as a small mach ground school class. He still think
going to the hanger to work on the Aztec is "boring" but as he gets older
and able to do more, I hope that changes. For now, I'm not pushing him.

I've never been able to instill true excitement by myself. What I can do is
expose him to things that he finds exciting. "Dad" is just too "common", he
can see and talk to me everyday. Your son may find flying more exciting if
one of your flying friends takes him for a few flights.

Jim