Kids & Cars

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

Both my daughters helped wash my daily driver yesterday.  The youngest (15) helped to apply a ceramic coat finish and buff.  They also help with intake valve cleaner treatments prior to oil changes.

The kids helped me swap wheels out today, and polish them up. Good times

my 11 year old daughter (really? 11? ALREADY????) decided that she wants to learn to work on cars. Shes helping me tear down an acr neon. If her interest stays, she'll help repaint and rebuild it. So far she getting better at being independent on disassembly! 

One of my grandsons loves to help work on the car. He is 8 and old enough to be really helpful for certain projects. He knows which tools are for which job and if I let him he would try much more (and probably be faster than me).  He is my go to guy for the final bleed of the brakes after a brake flush, he would pump that brake pedal for an hour if I asked. The other day he was able to hold a bolt up under the dash through the firewall while I spun the nut on it under the hood. He had already picked out the proper size socket and tightened it up after i got the nut on. I'm not sure I would have as much "fun" with him helping if I was working with a deadline. It is cool to spend time with kids, even better enjoying a hobby and sharing some knowledge that could serve them a lifetime.