Video games and other activities had occupied the times of most people of my generation by the time I was of modelling age. The thing that got me into modelling was the fact that my father was a modeller, so I grew up with it and wanted to do it myself. I can remember distinctly my first Great War model as being a Airfix SPAD S.VII painted up as
Georges Guynemer's SPAD. It wasn't built well, and there was little accuracy, but it wasn't built for any contests but for dogfights in the backyard against Matchbox biplanes of my neighbors. These early attempts helped me attain the skills that I needed to build the Eduard and Roden kits that I build these days. So I will always regard those kits fondly for those respects.
Its good to see parents giving their children models so that they may grow up to build models instead of playing playstation. A whole generation has missed out on the fun there is of building something out of plastic sprues in a box.