VEX Parents Start Here

Hello Future VEX Parents,

Welcome to one of the most fun, exciting, and enriching clubs available!

When my family first started out on a VEX IQ team, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. It seemed daunting in the beginning, at least for me, having zero engineering background and not understanding a thing that was happening. My 3 sons, however, are another story. Right from the start they fell in love with all the aspects of VEX Robotics and now 8 years later I have as well.

Through VEX, not only have my sons learned how to build and write code for their robot, but they also learned soft skills like working together as a team, recognizing areas of excellence in their teammates, problem solving, and perhaps most importantly to try, fail, and try again, documenting each step in an engineering notebook.

Another great benefit of VEX Robotics is that it’s completely student led which builds the confidence in their ability to succeed and develops the social skills needed to accomplish their goals. Teachers/coaches and parents are allowed to direct and answer all questions but are prohibited from building, designing, coding, or repairing any broken robots. This is tough as a parent as you’d like to help, but looking back at it now, it was all worth it. As parents we may not be able to help with the building process, but we can help to make sure the tournaments run smoothly and successfully for our kids. Volunteering is a fun part of VEX Robotics and gives parents a deeper understanding of how the tournaments are run and the rules of the game—and also connects parents with the students. As I said before, I knew nothing about robotics and can now referee, coach, and run Tournament Manager (the software used to run the tournaments).

Throughout the years, my sons have been active on Elementary, Middle school, and Homeschool teams. Although each team came from a different age group or school, it didn’t change the tournament experience. Watching the kids participate in tournaments with all the different robots they’ve independently built is such fun. One of the best aspects of the VEX IQ Robotics Competition is that the two teams work together as an alliance in order to score the most points in a match. As a parent I appreciate this because the kids are learning to work together, understanding that although we come with different ideas, we all have something to bring to the table. It is truly amazing to see what these kids can do when they put their minds to it!

Here we are 8 years and 5 world championships later and I wouldn’t change a thing. This program has proven to be more than just fun, it has enriched the lives of my children, shown them who and what they can become and has taught them important life skills that they will use in the future.

See you at the competitions!

Meghan Loden - Proud parent of awesome former roboteers on teams 10511B & 481A, and a current roboteer on 10511E