Kids & Cars

[RockAuto]

Toilet paper may be in short supply, but there are now plenty of children wandering around aimlessly after their schools shut down and booted them out the door. Now is a great opportunity to get kids interested in cars. A little tinkering on cars can help teach them how to use their minds and hands to prevent and solve problems. Increased confidence and competence will make them better able to handle and enjoy life's challenges.

If they have replaced heater hoses on a car, then they probably will have the confidence to replace a leaky bathroom faucet in their own homes someday. Instead of feeling helpless and panicky when the toilet paper shelves are empty, they will stay calm, trusting in their ability to come up with their own solutions if necessary; rags, shop towels, thimbleberry leaves, dad's old hankies...

Car "tinkering" does not have to start big. A child's first car project could be as simple as learning how to properly wash a car. It is easy to forget that a younger child may not even yet know how to connect a garden hose to a spigot. He/she will beam with pride once he/she has that knowledge and sees how nice the family vehicle looks after the grime is washed away. The adults involved in all this mentoring will have memories of good times spent with the kids that drown out insignificant memories of empty toilet paper shelves.



Thank you,
RockAuto.com

 

[drakon543]

plus you get a free car wash without doing it yourself.
im a firm believer in teaching kids worthwhile hobbies to keep them distracted from less positive distractions. teach your kids early about vehicles and you will have fewer concerns later when they have their own vehicle.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Absolutely agree! These are lifetime skills that can be applied ANYWHERE in everyday life.

My sons started honing their skills, working on my vehicles. After the initial investment of my time teaching them the basics, they took some of the vehicle standard maintenance tasks off of my shoulders, with me only looking over their shoulders, showing them the best practices for the specific maintenance jobs.

Now, they do 90+% of the maintenance on their vehicles, but even more important, they do 90+% of the maintenance on their homes.

Using this approach, both you and your children will save tens of thousands of dollars each, on vehicle and home maintenance jobs over your and their lifetimes.

Also, and equally important, jointly participating in these maintenance activities will grow and strengthen the parent-child relationships, fostering effective communication and building a lifetime of mutual trust and respect.

 

[OR VietVet]

Glad to see RA step up and suggest this. Goes along with our other thread about this. Any, and I mean ANY, info/experience the kids learn about any vehicle they ride in, is a big plus. They can be another set of ears to help pin down a noise. If nothing else, make sure a new vehicle owner is aware of the owner's manual.

 

[Dantheman1540]

This is great! I'm a strong believer in making more people more useful!

 

[swathdiver]

Way ahead of you RockAuto! This week my girls have replaced door knobs, hung shelves, replaced toilet bowl seats and tank mechanisms and we just came inside from going over the new lawn tractor. Showed them how to level the deck, change the blades and how to run it without cutting off their toes or tipping over. Off to get the youngest ones learner's permit and the other one her license out of suspension because Speedy Gonzalez forgot to take the driver's ed class for her speeding ticket!