Personally at 4 years old, i wouldn’t sweat it at all. Let her set the pace and tone. There is a huge difference between a 4 year old and a 5 year old, and then another huge step to a 6 year old. She’s got lots of time to figure it out. Just do your best to make it something fun and not a chore. I personally recommend the parking lot thing. I did that with my son at 6 years old, but we got lucky and found an old elementary school that had been converted to a church/community center, so other than Sunday mornings, the lot was empty.
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Is daddy/daughter lead/follow a possibility? If the track has rental karts, they may allow you on track in one with your daughter.
Most tracks do not allow rentals and “racing” karts on track at the same time, but hue may make an exception.
That’s how we got our daughter out on track and she had a blast.
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Haha but seriously my daughter had the same fears and at the same time desires. It was playing driving around on GTA V that gave her the confidence to catch slides on the track. Now there’s no stopping her she’s as addicted
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My little guy loved cars and vehicles of all types, and wanted to try a kart. So we rented a kid kart at 5YO, he went around the track a few times but wasn’t over-enthused about it and was just cruising around looking at clouds and grass and birds…
So the next year when he was 6 he asked to try it again - so I rented kart, and this time he went a little faster but was still mostly daydreaming while on-track. In the end he thought it was cool but wasn’t motivated to go back.
So the next year he wanted to try it again but Mom came with us (7YO). She was a nervous wreck and made him nervous, too. So nervous that he wasn’t having fun, and he actually kind of froze up on-track, ran off the track into a barrier, and bloodied his lip (bit it). When helmet came off Mom freaked out at the blood and he got freaked out and it was “I’m never doing this again”.
But kid loved cars and racing and sure enough, next year (8YO) he asked to try it again. So back to track, rented kart, and after he came off the track the first time he said “that was fun, did I do any good?” So I got a printout of his lap times to show him and his eyes lit up and he said “I bet I can go lots faster” and spent the rest of the day trying to go faster and faster. From there he was hooked, and we bought a kart, and we’ve been having a blast racing in the years since.
Long story short - IMHO don’t push it. If she’s already exposed to the track, she’ll ask again when she’s ready and it will go so much much more better for everyone involved.
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My 5 year old son would do the same. He would refuse to go on track and sit in the kart and cry in his helmet.
I bought a cheap headset (Amazon.com) so I could talk to him while he was out on track. The ear piece fits well under the helmet. This helped boost his confidence. He could focus on driving while I focused on all the other things for him (when to come into the pits, when to slow down for flags, kart coming up behind him, etc).
We also spent a lot of time just watching cadets on the days where he refused to kart.
Now I can’t keep him off the track
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OMG! Thank you!! I have thought about this and looked it up and couldn’t find anything decent!
My daughter has done the crying in the helmet and it took every ounce of me as a dad not to rip off the helmet, pack our gear and head home. I felt if I gave up on her who would be there to teach her that facing difficult and hard moments in life is okay? But again, she’s 4-years-old so that’s why this thread exists. Want to make sure in doing the right thing. Happy to hear you can’t keep your kid off true track now!
Incredible story of perseverance! I love seeing these stories because obviously if you had given up after the first or second year in you would have never experienced what he was able to achieve at 8-years-old.
She races slot cars with me and she’s very competitive about it (everything else she does in life as well). I also have a racing simulator at home that she loves using. She prefers doing time trials and beating her own ghosts as she gets faster. She has no reservations with any of those racing activities, as soon as I put her in a real kart the fears begin to take over her. I am certain if she was ever to hurt herself like your son did and there was blood my wife would never allow her to go back on track. She already thinks I’m insane for doing this in the first place. She finds it extreme and dangerous lol but she supports it and goes to the track with us every time… Thanks for sharing!!!
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Love this! She races on a racing simulator I have at home and she loves doing that. I’m building her a kid-sized one now because the one I have she can’t reach the pedals, she’s only able to steer but she does surprisingly well. The moral of the story is that there’s hope. The fear is normal and I have to be easy on her and go at her own pace. She may grow out of it some day and if she doesn’t, we move on to other activities.
Below is a link to an Instagram account I created for my daughter if you guys would like to see what she’s been able to do so far. I’ve been documenting her journey in order to keep a journal record we can reference in the future to see her progress and of course, to preserve memories of doing this as a family.
Great advice, thank you! I’m also a dad still learning how to be dad. I’ve always had this mentality that I wanted to give my children opportunities I never had when I grew up. Then I think about how these “opportunities” I want to provide for them may actually hurt them more in the long run. So I try to keep myself in check to make sure I am not causing any damage to her. That’s why I am being so sensitive about this issue to ensure I’m not dealing any damage to her. My intentions to get her into karting at 4-years-old were pure, she showed interest, I felt it would be a great sport for her and I to bond, form memories together, and have fun while doing it.
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Sounds like you’re doing fine to me. Keep it fun for her and the rest will follow.
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I wouldn’t force the issue or take her to the races (only if she wants to). My daughter wouldn’t even step in a pair of skis when she was 4. Each year we would expose her to skiing. 2 years later when she was 6, she was ready and enthusiastic. We put her in a class for a 1/2 a day and she came back able to get on and off the ski lift and of snow plow. At 8 she was skiing black diamond runs. Everyone has their own pace.
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Welcome @TurboRana!
Love seeing new parents on here getting their kids involved. You’re already on the right track. All of the feedback above is solid.
I have two boys racing now, ages 9 and 7, so I’ve gone through this recently. Both of them had different journeys.
For the oldest, we went the parking lot route before joining our local club. I set up cones at a local corporate business lot that I knew was empty on the weekends. We would do our track walks on scooters and I eventually timed his laps as he got more comfortable. We kept it fun and low pressure, which made it easy to transition him to the track.
For the younger one, I let him drive around our property a bit before getting him on the track. On his first track outing, he was painfully slow, and that’s totally fine. There were times when I thought that karting wouldn’t be his thing, but he wanted to keep driving, so we kept supporting him and encouraging him. I’d give pointers here and there, and would help him a bit when I’m out there with him on lead/follows, but the main part was continuing to encourage him and lift him up and keep it fun. One of his kid karter friends drove with him on one of the track days, and that ended up being his breakout day. He all of a sudden found the throttle and has never let up since. All of the encouragement and patient practice paid off and he loves it now.
I definitely encourage the safe parking lot route when they’re really young. Being familiar with their kart, the sounds, how it handles, will pay dividends when they’re out on the track. Less to worry about amongst others.
If you’re able to swing this with your schedule and the track schedule, see if you can make it out to the track on a weekday that you know it will be empty. Once she’s used to the kart, she can get acquainted with the track without others around. And if you’re able to be out there with her in a kart, that would help too.
I’ve got another son who’s going to get started pretty soon and a daughter on the way who will be in the same position in about 4-5 years. I’m sure their journeys will be a bit different as well.
Keep at it and enjoy the time with your daughter! You’re already living the dream getting to do this with her.
Whenever people ask me what the “goals” are with my kids karting (F1? Indy? Nascar?), I just tell 'em “this is it”. I get to enjoy this sport with my kids and be out on the track with them. They learn about driving, hard work, mechanics, and they get to make some amazing life memories. Everything else is a bonus (higher rungs of the racing ladder, etc.)
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Yep an interesting conundrum to be sure and I am like you in that I tried to expose my kid to the things that weren’t available to me. One does wonder whether we are living vicariously through their experiences (we are) but our intentions are good. Hopefully execution is solid, too!
I found that karting, with its very scary speed, sets a high bar. I distinctly recall the day my son faced his fear and made me question my wisdom watching him send it at 65 mph, over and over again, until he stuck it.
I think that day was probably pretty important to his long term development. He did a thing he was really scared of and did it until it was done.
Pass accomplished.
At 19 I’m sort of blown away when I take him karting how comfortable and natural he became in the kart.
This scary stuff is important to do, developmentally… but they gotta get to the point they are ready to commit to those kinds of decisions.
Take all the time you/she needs. Rush it and maybe she says “Forget it”.
I suspect Nicks experiences learning at age 10 and then being thrown into the deep end of junior tag racing was pretty intimidating. It must be bonkers for a 4yr old.
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Thank you for the wonderful advice and words of encouragement! I had to show your post to my wife and she loved this particular quote. She said, it is so true! Thanks again!
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That is remarkable!
So, true. Especially at the young age she’s in. You are right, we are going to take it slow on her and if she’s still struggling we are going to pull the plug for now and come back when she’s 5. I’m going to try to see if I can find a safe parking lot as many people suggested or I will talk to the track personnel and see if they can suggest an alternative. If I can get her comfortable with the kart noise and the kart itself without having to worry about going on track that may help her overcome some of those fears she’s having.
I’ve done a little bit of racing myself and it was very nerve-racking for me even as an adult. Like you said, I can’t imagine what she’s feeling inside when I expose her to all of this at 4-years-old. I definitely don’t want to ruin this experience or push her to the point she’ll never want to do this again. i will tread lightly moving forward. Thank you for the great advice!!
It was but it took time. He was deliberate and worked up to it. At some point he became aware that to move forwards, he needed to get out of his comfort zone and then did that. It took a few years iirc until he was truly “racing”.
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My daughters (both of them) had the same fear. I baby stepped them into. First we put the kart on the kart stand at home and they sat on it then revved the motor till they got used to the vibration and sound.
Next we turned laps on my long driveway at low speeds and did gas/ brake drills and a cone course so they got used to steering.
Then I took them to the track on a day I knew they wouldn’t be busy, and the track had someone open the short track and they just pounded laps by themselves.
Then I slowly introduced them into bigger fields and it just grew from there.
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I know this post is almost a month old, but hoping to get some advice because I’m facing the exact same thing! Can I ask what ear plugs you found to work well for the noise issue?
My 4 year old son was super pumped on the first drive but the pedals were a bit far so we waited until some extensions arrived. When they did, he ended up not wanting to drive last week. Later he said he didn’t want to get burnt by the engine, so we decided to only do it when he was wearing his full suit (all of this is happening in our driveway, by the way). Yesterday we tried again with his suit and he stopped after about 45 seconds and was in tears. This time he said it’s the noise. I suspect each time it will be something new, but still.
I don’t want to push him and am a huge fan of letting kids set the pace. I did that with his sister for mountain biking and now it’s all she wants to do. Same with him and surfing. Butttttt…I also want to go Karting 
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I use a pair of corded 3M plugs and I love em, since they’re corded they don’t get lost and they have amazing noise dampening. Now Im unsure whether they’d fit your kid since he will have smaller ear canals. Try em, if they don’t fit you can use em.
If those don’t work something like the 3M 1100s would likely fit him.
My guess is that he might be more scared of the engine rather than the loud noise. You could try having the kart idle in the driveway and just have your kid hang around it, rev it a little and what not. Doing that with earplugs and his helmet on could make him feel more comfortable.
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