Review: Team Hot Wheels Double Dare Snare Track Set

A Hot Wheels race track, is there anything better? It doesn't matter how old you get, it never gets old to play with. And isn't that one of the great things about being a father, rediscovering the little boy inside?

I wanted to get my sons their first Hot Wheels racetrack for their 4th birthday, and I found a great one, the Team Hot Wheels Double Dare Snare Track Set.

The primary selling point to me for this set was the dual tracks, so that both boys could play at the same time, and it's worked out great.

As you can see from the picture at right, the concept behind the track is that the winning car is saved by a crane, while the loser plummets to the ground. It's a clever concept, and the crane was a nice bonus because my boys love cranes.

The learning curve on this set was moderate. My boys had to learn how to use the launchers. At first, they just wanted to run their cars with their hands along the track. When they moved to the launchers, it was difficult for them at first but, by the end of the first day, they were experts. It's fun to see their motor skills progress so quickly.

One downside is that, while this set is rated for 4-14 year olds, I think it's asking a little much for 4 year olds to be able to setup the crane claw. The spring is pretty tight and the claw barely grips the track so as to release when the car hits it. My sons struggle with the crane, and I usually have to set it up for them, and it's not even easy for me.

The other negative is that the set only came with a single car. This seems silly since the set has two tracks, and is designed for racing. And, as we parents of young twins know, you can't just give one of them a new car; that's asking for trouble. I solved this by buying a set of new Hot Wheels cars for each boy.

MSRP for this set is $22.99 but I bought ours on Amazon for $18. I give this set 4 out of 5 stars.

As an aside, I'm 47 and my even older friend was over for movie night the other day when I didn't have my sons for visitation. After the movie, it was obvious that my buddy wanted to try the track, so we of course had to race several times. Yep, Hot Wheels tracks never get old...

The author was not compensated for this review.

Double Trouble or Double Blessing?

The boys, circa 2010

Well, that's really up to you isn't it?

Twins are a product of their genetics and their environment, just like any other child. If you've been blessed with healthy twins at birth, the rest is up to you.

My sons are tremendously well behaved. There are probably some genetics at work their, because, in my "default" state, I'm a pretty mellow guy, but I also give their mother all the credit in the world. My ex has given our sons a lot of structure, and children NEED structure, much more-so than I understood when I became a father.

I, on the other hand, provide a counter-balance to their mother's parenting by not living my life on a schedule, instead choosing to be more spontaneous and less structured when I'm together with my sons. I bring the unconditional love, and, our sons are loving and kind. For that, I take a lot of the credit.

Balance is a good thing, believe me.

For me there was never any doubt that our twin children were a blessing. My wife and I married in 2008 and conceived a child about six months later. Due to a death in the family, my wife was under a lot of stress and experiencing a lot of grief and, shortly after, we suffered a miscarriage.

At the time of the miscarriage, my wife was going on 40 and pregnancy of any kind was high risk, especially considering that this would be her first child. Although I had always wanted two children, we decided that if we were blessed to have a healthy child after the miscarriage, we would adopt a second.

We conceived again the following spring, and discovered we were pregnant with twins at the first ultrasound. I was elated! We would have two children from a single pregnancy! It seemed fated. My wife, on the other hand, was hysterical. She turned to me, sobbing, and said, "We're going to need two of everything!"

Female hormones. Gotta love 'em.

Is raising twins harder than raising a singleton? Oh yeah. Is it as hard as raising two singletons born, say, 18 months apart? I doubt it.

The first couple of years are a bear, there's no soft selling it. Like most parents of twins, I barely remember the first few months. But things do get progressively easier. And, at 4, I suspect that raising twins might even be easier than raising a singleton. At this stage, mine play very well together, and it works out great when I have to cook dinner or do something else that requires my full attention. My sons still want me fully engaged with them all the time but, when I can't be, they have a willing and ready playmate who enjoys the same things and is at the same stage developmentally. It's pretty great.

A word of advice: when you see parents with twins, don't ask them, "Double trouble, eh?" At best it's cliched. At worst, the parents may take offense because, to some, this statement can be perceived as a negative judgement. If you need an icebreaker, go with "double blessing" instead. And hopefully that's just what they are.

Welcome to IdenticalDaddy.com!

The author circa 2008.
(Pre-divorce I had a little more
hair and a little less weight.
Huh, the same as my first
divorce actually.)

I'm a 47 year old father of identical twin boys who recently turned 4 years old.

As of this writing, I'm on the verge of becoming "born again single" as my divorce with my second wife should be finalized soon.

Technically my estranged wife and I have been married for a little over 5-1/2 years, but we have been legally separated for nearly 1-1/2 of those years. During the period of our separation, I have been acting as a single father, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

On this blog I plan to do a lot of product reviews that may be helpful to both parents of twins and singletons. As a single father of twin boys, I also hope to offer a unique perspective on subjects as diverse as parenting, legal advice, and emotion regulation for parents and for children.

Thanks for reading, and please stay tuned for forthcoming posts!