Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:14:29 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
In-Reply-To: <BAY124-W5663EA6299E268EA4DBA00BD720@phx.gbl>
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I helped raise my nine-year-old granddaughter to become as
self-sufficient as possible with tools. At her age she has operated a
drill press, jigsaw, planer, soldering iron, Xacto knife, grinder and
a number of automotive tools like ratchet wrenches and jacks. She's
not a bad nailer for her age. We have made a point of cooking meals
(or at least making tea) by starting fires in every conceivable way...
matches, rubbing sticks, magnifying glass, magnesium and steel. She
has taped and glued and stapled hundreds of her own projects from
cardboard, rubber, paper and wood. We've worked on cars and bicycles
and scooters and treehouses together dozens of times. I taught her to
draw and paint.
She is the best artist in her school (she drew the snail that's on the
back of my westy in my notebook when she was four and I had it cut
into vinyl) and is regarded as an extraordinary problem-solver and
"craft leader." She can disassemble and assemble just about anything
in the house. She has come to regard stuff the way that I intended her
to, to be undaunted by the broken stuff in life. Just figure it out
and fix it.
I never cared that she got dirty or cut or pinched herself, though I
was always there to make sure she was doing things as safely as
possible. And I've cleaned my share of blood, mud and grease off of
her. I think that we adults have somehow become infected with the idea
that children should never ever get hurt, and it just doesn't make any
sense. Somehow today, everyone is supposed to be perfect all the time.
This means having perfect white teeth, never getting dirty, never
getting cut or scraped, and having special types of clean clothes for
every activity you engage in. All these things have superseded
actually learning to DO anything for many people. Just buy the
clothes, and hey, you're a paddler. Or a cyclist. Or a fisherman. Or a
skier. Too bad than T-shirts and ragged jeans aren't popular, they are
the clothes of the doer.
I have given her as much of my time as possible partly because of me
and the fact that I wanted to pass along some of what I learned from
my mechanically-minded father and what I learned after that, and
partly for her to help broaden her horizons from the limited
experiences I see other kids having. I have two grown daughters and
while they learned a lot and have seen me do many things, they never
got the direct experiences with tools, that second-nature comfort in
the hand, that I want my grandchildren to have.
And it does go on... as my 2.1 motor nears completion, my
nearly-2-year-old boy and girl grand-twins are watching step by step.
Yesterday they were in my garage and my grandson picked up a socket
wrench on a ratchet and stuck it onto the pedal bolt of a bike leaning
against the wall. He turned it a few times (ineffectively, but hey,
he's not even two yet) and then clapped and did a little victory
dance. He's going to be a good one.
You can make a big difference by giving kids a little time and the
image of a person actually doing something. If they grow up with the
ability to use tools and solve problems, they'll draw upon the image
you gave them when they are young. I got my first torque wrench for
Christmas when I was 17. I used it today.
Jim
On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Ben Cichowski <aquasheck@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Well, as an already crusty...not so old guy (I'm still in my early 30's), I will completely agree with both of you. In my age bracket, I do not have a single friend who works on their own cars. Not a single one. Now...this could mean that I am too crusty to have friends, but it seems much more likely, to me at least, that people just jump into their cars and drive without a clue as to how it works...and certainly not a clue as to what things to "notice" when something is wrong or going wrong. Even at my age, I'm revered as some sort of mechanical genius, though I make no such claim myself. Younger than me....it is even worse as you say, and I do think that privilege and (dare I say) laziness has a lot to do with that. Very "disposable" society unfortunately...
>
> But, there is hope for some. My 5-year old regularly helps me out with projects on the van. Even helped a good deal during my/our conversion when there were things she could do safely. I can say with confidence that she could talk someone through the proper way to rotate tires and some of the small tasks like that (of course she lacks the strength to do it herself presently, and there are of course safety issues). By the time she is 10, I'm hoping she'll be doing headgasket and timing belt jobs with her dad...and her sister will be 5 so we can start the process all over again. My wife insists that, before any kid leaves the house at 18, they know how to at least do the general maintenance...even those tough ones like changing out a turn signal bulb ;)
>
> -Ben
>
>> Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:32:33 -0700
>> From: crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM
>> Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>
>> The short answer is 'Yes' !
>>
>> My kids are revered as mechanical geniuses among their peers though neither
>> are qualified mechanics. They do have the chops to re-do their own brakes
>> and shocks (and bulbs) but most of today's privileged kids think that
>> 'maintenance' is putting the car through the local car wash.
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 8:24 AM, Ed Lloyd <elloyd10@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> > I too have been living the Vanagon Experience during my 20+ years of
>> > driving my 87 Westy, and before that a 76 Westy.
>> >
>> > My daughter just bought a sporty little 20004 Mazda 3, and I looked into
>> > the Driver's Manual, and did a double take on this:
>> >
>> > "Front Turn Signal Lights - Due to the complexity and difficulty of the
>> > procedure, the bulbs should be replaced by an Authorized Mazda Dealer."
>> >
>> > Same for the Fog lights, and side marker lights. They do show pictures and
>> > procedures, which amount to unscrewing the plastic housings and gently
>> > twisting and pulling out the bulbs. Installation is the reverse.
>> >
>> > Low beam Xenon bulb may be more of a problem. "You cannot replace the low
>> > beam bulbs by yourself. Must be replaced at an Authorized Dealer." OK,
>> > there may be some high voltage and disposal risk here.
>> >
>> > Oil change, and perhaps Air Filter, and that is the complete list of what
>> > an owner can do by themselves! Everything else is Dealer.
>> >
>> > I also noted that the Windshield washer reservoir has a light on the dash
>> > board to tell you when the washer fluid is low. I have never found this to
>> > be a problem in my Vanagon. When it starts to dribble out, then you just
>> > add more!
>> >
>> > this is a sporty car for young people, not a big "Luxury" car for pampered
>> > fat cats. Her friends all seem to know how to work the CD player and
>> > electronic gadgets installed, but seem clueless about the mechanicals.
>> >
>> > End of Rant by crusty old guy.
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jake
>> 1984 Vanagon GL
>> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
>> Crescent Beach, BC
>> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
>> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
>
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