Kids in the Lab

[KF5OBS]

Probably all of us with kids and a home lab know how fascinating our special area in the house / apartment is for the little ones. My little one started developing an obsession around 16 months. At that young age she of course doesn't understand what all that gear is (I would imagine so at least). I spent quite a bit of time showing her how test gear works and what daddy does in his 'special room'. Recently we soldered a police strobe light for her. At that age kids love to mimic. I had a old soldering iron in a box on the floor and an old oscilloscope open on the floor. She took the (cold) soldering iron and started poking around on the PCB of the scope. I had a couple of older vectorscopes and an analogue bar generator. I had them hooked up together sitting in the corner and she played with it. I was amazed how fast she learned what buttons to press to make stuff appear. Now I am sure the super Nanny would not recommend kids in the lab, but how do you guys (and girls) handle it?

EDIT: Perfect timing, I guess Dave let's Sagan play with his gear also:

[Psi]

There are two issues
1) Their safety (running soldering irons, active 230v projects, high current batteries on charge)
2) The safety of your tools, since some tools are easy damaged,
      * ultra fine wire cutters get used to cut thick cable (a problem with older kids and even some adults)
      * antistatic tweezers get their tips bent
      * LCD screens scratched with objects or things melted with the iron if they get hold of it
      * Carbide PCB drill sets broken or tiny drills lost in the carpet.

As long as they have 100% supervision there isn't any issue but i wouldn't be working on a project at the same time. It's risky to try and keep an eye on them and work on something at the same time.

[KF5OBS]

I agree with both points. Constant supervision is absolutely mandatory. In regards of point 2.) though I have the attitude that stuff simply does break in the process of learning. Of course there's absolutely no need to let them break whatever they can and if it's predicable it needs to be prevented. However, if I recall all the tools I broke when I was a kid and how much that taught me, I say that they were worth the money. The same goes for my daughter. Even if she breaks everything in my lab and that results in her being a brilliant EE someday, it was worth it.

[JuKu]

3) Your safety when you are using tools. Years ago, I did not notice my daughter getting up forthe floo where she was drawing. She pushed my hand because she wanted to see what I was doing, and I pushed a knife in to my hand. The doctor said I was about a mm off from losing the ability to move my thumb.

[Psi]

though I have the attitude that stuff simply does break in the process of learning.

Yeah, i agree, it's just the expensive stuff that needs to be protected. With the possible exception of sorted electronic parts.
I can just imagine a kid emptying out every draw for resistors, capacitors and transistor right onto the floor. Or trying to climb up and pulling the whole unit over.

Heavy objects falling over is another hazard.

[GK]

Not having any kids I don't have that problem, but my nosey chooks are a pain. Can't leave the door open.

[nanofrog]

Not having any kids I don't have that problem, but .... Can't leave the door open.

Same with my cats. They love to relocate anything they can get their paws on.

[onlooker]

Are you concerned about lead in solder or you all do not use leaded solder any more? There are different opinions about this. But, really how much precaution should one take? Do you clean tools for your figure may have touched leaded solder and then tools. Is vacuuming the floor enough to pick up the solder dust? Then, what about letting kid touch the tools? Is there any easy way to see lead traces (like figure print) ?

[PbFoot]

Time for Fisher Price to introduce "My First Oscilloscope". It could come with a play PCB that could be "probed" and make waveforms appear on the toy scope. They already have toy power tools. I think this is a logical progression.

-PbFoot

[Zero999]

Time for Fisher Price to introduce "My First Oscilloscope". It could come with a play PCB that could be "probed" and make waveforms appear on the toy scope. They already have toy power tools. I think this is a logical progression.

-PbFoot

Sound like an interesting project.

[Bored@Work]

Time for Fisher Price to introduce "My First Oscilloscope". It could come with a play PCB that could be "probed" and make waveforms appear on the toy scope. They already have toy power tools. I think this is a logical progression.

-PbFoot

Sound like an interesting project.

Where are the 3D-printer guys when you need them?

[KF5OBS]

Are you concerned about lead in solder or you all do not use leaded solder any more? There are different opinions about this. But, really how much precaution should one take? Do you clean tools for your figure may have touched leaded solder and then tools. Is vacuuming the floor enough to pick up the solder dust? Then, what about letting kid touch the tools? Is there any easy way to see lead traces (like figure print) ?

I am not concerned about this issue one bit. Lead is like any heavy metal not too healthy. But like most heavy metals the chance of actually catching a dangerous dose is very small unless you eat bars of lead. Since RoHS many people think lead is something crazy. I do keep the lab clean. But if just the dust alone would really be as dangerous as claimed, many of us would be dead. It's all part of the new 'Oh my good, there are germs in the sandbox, can't let my kids play in it' hype, mostly originating from the USA. I'm not against safety procedures but if I'd really try to eliminate any risk factor in life, I wouldn't even be allowed to breathe anymore.

[GK]

Same with my cats. They love to relocate anything they can get their paws on.

Well, at least cats aren't prone to dropping little deposits every 5 minutes. Perhaps I should get my hens some diapers 



Sorry, OT.