Pass along your passion

[Flivver250]

It does seem our male youth today are not being raised to be rugged individuals. Perhaps it is because too many are raised without a dad, perhaps it because the schools are training them that their family jewels aren't proof they are boys who will be men. I don't have much wisdom to offer, but I have been training some young men to work on their rigs, also there is a young mother who brings her young boys over to observe and question as often as possible. Nothing I do can change the world, but I'd like to think I will leave behind a dozen young men who will be busting knuckles on ball joints and wondering how the heck they can stop the vibration above 50 mph. I enjoy the wrenching as much as the wheeling. Hard to find a young man today that knows where their oil pan drain plug is.

 

[Flivver250]

 

[Squatch]

My friend, that is the coolest thing I've read in a long time. I agree with what you said, and agree even more with what you're doing. I've said many times that if I found a local youngster (male or female, because I'm still stubborn enough to believe there are only two genders) who was interested in wrenching on vehicles, I'd set them up with a basic tool kit, as I have more than enough tools to do so. Thanks for what you're doing. You're a helluva role model for them. You never know, you could actually be changing a young life right there!

 

[Flivver250]

Not seen in these pictures, this particular tutelage will demonstrate to these young lads that proper prepositioning of your body is useful if you wish to avoid a voluminous gush of body soaking hot engine coolant complete with chemical flush. Subsequent flushes had me poised for instant retreat when I popped the lower hose off. Quite a valuable lesson.

 

[Rollin20z]

Nothing I do can change the world,

Sorry my friend, Biggest untruth you said right there !!! If you even get through to even one of those kids and teach them how to do something on there own and not feel like it is beneath them and someone else should be doing it for them then you my friend made a change. Too many kids nowadays have no clue how to do anything except play a video game, use a phone to it's limits or just want money/whatever given to them because they have that a entitlement complex.

Keep doing what your doing my friend no matter where in the world you may be doing it because you are making a difference. Just remember when they get a lil older as we are getting now they will remember. I know I'm 51 and sometimes when I get to doing something like changing a bearing or brakes whatever I can still remember the first I did it and who showed/taught me how to do it. That seed has to be planted before a tree can grow.

 

[AndyG]

Sir , my hat is off to you , and you represent America well. I’m proud.

Our greatest job , as human beings , is to enable the next generations to survive.

It’s the height of selfishness to leave them in this world not knowing how to change a tire or turn a bolt.

 

[Chris]

Kids these days don't want to do jack shit because they have YouTube.

I'm not kidding. When you ask all the young kids at my daughters elementary school what they want to be when they grow up, 9 out of 10 of them will tell you, "I want to be a YouTube star!".

Apparently it's similar in middle school as well. These kids essentially want to grow up and get paid to do nothing.

Anyways, props to you for what you're doing. It blows my mind that kids these days aren't into cars (or most of them aren't at least) the way we were when we were growing up. I remember when I was younger, the only things my friends and I cared about were cars and girls... literally!

 

[mots]

Kids these days don't want to do jack shit because they have YouTube.

I'm not kidding. When you ask all the young kids at my daughters elementary school what they want to be when they grow up, 9 out of 10 of them will tell you, "I want to be a YouTube star!".

Apparently it's similar in middle school as well. These kids essentially want to grow up and get paid to do nothing.

Anyways, props to you for what you're doing. It blows my mind that kids these days aren't into cars (or most of them aren't at least) the way we were when we were growing up. I remember when I was younger, the only things my friends and I cared about were cars and girls... literally!

Yep, cars, girls, and sports...anything else didn’t compete!

 

[mots]

Awesome thread, I love the parking garage stories you tell!

 

[Thunderhead]

 

[WesRJ86]

I have 2 boys myself, 7 and soon to be 2. I understand I can't make them take an interest in what they don't like just like my dad couldn't with me. BUT you better believe they will know how to do certain things. Turn a wrench, swing a hammer, and use a shovel. Never knew how much I would appreciate my pop making sure I was prepared for life by doing these seemingly small things. Now these are my hobbies ha! Kudos to you man! Keep it up.

 

[PCO6]

It does seem our male youth today are not being raised to be rugged individuals. Perhaps it is because too many are raised without a dad, perhaps it because the schools are training them that their family jewels aren't proof they are boys who will be men. I don't have much wisdom to offer, but I have been training some young men to work on their rigs, also there is a young mother who brings her young boys over to observe and question as often as possible. Nothing I do can change the world, but I'd like to think I will leave behind a dozen young men who will be busting knuckles on ball joints and wondering how the heck they can stop the vibration above 50 mph. I enjoy the wrenching as much as the wheeling. Hard to find a young man today that knows where their oil pan drain plug is.

View attachment 109129

View attachment 109130

I was a Scout Leader for about 10 years and every year we had several single Mothers who came to us and thanked us for having their young sons with us, basically saying that we gave them something they couldn't. We were more than happy to do it! Most of them said that they couldn't contribute much in the way of parent volunteer help (outings, camping trips, etc.) and were perfectly fine with that.

As for raising rugged male youths, I've been passionate about Box Lacrosse for almost all of my life. My days of getting beat up, and doing likewise, are long gone but coaching and running teams and clubs filled that void nicely. There were always tough kids on the teams but I took special delight in the apparent meek and mild ones one who could clean the clocks of any one on the floor. Every team had certain players you didn't want to mess with. I've coached kids who have gone on to careers in many professions (Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, etc.) and even a few who have ended up in jail. You see a bit of everything.

btw … NONE of these guys ended up in jail!

 

[Rollin20z]

I have 2 boys myself, 7 and soon to be 2. I understand I can't make them take an interest in what they don't like just like my dad couldn't with me. BUT you better believe they will know how to do certain things. Turn a wrench, swing a hammer, and use a shovel. Never knew how much I would appreciate my pop making sure I was prepared for life by doing these seemingly small things. Now these are my hobbies ha! Kudos to you man! Keep it up.

True, kids are kids and some will get an interest and pick up the simple stuff and learn from there. Some just have no interest and it's easier to teach a rock to change oil then some of them. But what I cannot comprehend and wrap my head around are the 30/40 yr old's and hell even some like a lot of us 50 or up that don't know how to do shit I mean can barely put gas in a vehicle or do anything around the house without calling someone. To me that;s just flat ass lazy or ignorant whatever. Especially with something like google, hell you can pretty much build/fix/do pretty much whatever you want to cause someone has a thread or video on it.

But I guess when your allowed to use the internet for class and homework what do you expect? Why learn it Siri always knows the answer.

 

[WesRJ86]

True, kids are kids and some will get an interest and pick up the simple stuff and learn from there. Some just have no interest and it's easier to teach a rock to change oil then some of them. But what I cannot comprehend and wrap my head around are the 30/40 yr old's and hell even some like a lot of us 50 or up that don't know how to do shit I mean can barely put gas in a vehicle or do anything around the house without calling someone. To me that;s just flat ass lazy or ignorant whatever. Especially with something like google, hell you can pretty much build/fix/do pretty much whatever you want to cause someone has a thread or video on it.

But I guess when your allowed to use the internet for class and homework what do you expect? Why learn it Siri always knows the answer.

Yeah my dad never tried to make my brother and I like any of it. He made sure we knew how to do alot of things because his view was that's what the man of the house does and every man should take care of his house and stuff to the best of his ability, just part of being a man ha. That's all he asked of us and that's what I'll ask of mine. I just happen to like doing that stuff.

 

[Rollin20z]

Yeah, having the knowledge and ability to do something and not wanting/needing to do it(meaning having the means that you can have it done for you) OR having to rely on someone else to do it because you have not a clue how to do it because you are too lazy to figure it out or learn are 2 different things entirely. There's plenty of stuff anymore that I've done plenty of times that's it's just easier to pay someone else to do it now. Getting old blows. Well come to think of it I guess that is a benefit from doing it yourself when your younger, now you have the extra money to let someone else do it and be able to till if it's done right.

That ole give'm a fish or teach them to fish goes a long way.

 

[LittleTankTJ]

As someone from the younger end of the TJ owner spectrum I'll give you some insight. Most people my age weren't given the option to do this. Computerized cars and city restrictions makes working on cars more difficult. What I've learned I've taught myself (thanks YouTube). My parents generation just generally don't know the basic.

Another thing to think about is that my parents generation got pushed to go to university and pushed away from trade schools.

Luckily my parents were of the mindset to let me get hurt and dirty, but so many of my friends parents would stop us from doing stuff the could hurt us. Or stop us from getting dirty. Video games became easier because there's less fear of getting hurt. We're inside. Helecoptered. (Us kids never gave a damn about participation trophies, but our parents did)

I do think the shift to letting kids be kids is happening with my generation having children. A lot of us felt a little robbed of that. And growing up with technology as it is more now helps us understand what to limit.

So thank you for giving kids a place to work and use tools. You have forever changed their life. It's like riding a bike. Learn to wrench a little and basic things like changing a flat tire will never scare them. I know for sure that my future kids and any of their friends who want to help are welcome in my garage.

 

[Goatman]

When I was a youngster I disliked a lot of what I had to do. Cleaning g out chicken coops, picking rocks, weeding a 3/4 acre garden. But now that I'm (a lot) older I am so grateful that I grew up on a farm. My mother would kick us out of the house after breakfast and say dont come back till dinner time. This at 7 or 8 years old! We'd run around the woods building tree forts, battle invading aliens, set up base camp on the moon, etc. Never new I was learning carpentry and mechanics. I was in the back fields plowing with just me and the tractor. Had to figure out how to adjust linkages to get the plows set just right. At 10 I rebuilt my first engine. A 1940's International W-4. Always learning something new. By the time I was 15 I was doing all maintenance on the machinery! Now most all the farms are gone. Kids here have no place to get a summer job. They just sit in front of a screen and get taught how to type with their thumbs and how to push button really fast to get a better "kill shot" on their games. It is sad. And it's not their fault either. This country has become such a nanny state that if you even tell at a kid they are told to report you to the police. I hope things change or the next generation or two will know nothing other than take the blue pill in the morning and the red pill in the evening.

 

[AndyG]

Good stuff right here . Kids need to venture into the real world a little bit,. Learn if they are gonna be dumb ,they gotta be tough, camp,fish, work on stuff, ...who knows ,might grow up to be men .

Also , as they grow ,the need taught to plan work , execute work, inspect work , clean up and put up the tools so it's ready next time.

Then they need taught to work ahead

The world needs men like that.

 

[Kiwi TJ]

@Flivver250 your doing a great deed there mate.....and I agree with what's been said by others too. Who knows any of these kids could grow up to be a great engineer or go on to invent something revolutionary based on you showing them the joys of 'fixing something yourself'.

I try and keep my girls grounded and try not to miss any opportunity to show them some tricks I've learnt (normally the hard way) when working on my Jeep or other cars...My eldest has her own car now and it feels good to hear her say 'can I fix this myself ? '

 

[reddvltj]

As someone from the younger end of the TJ owner spectrum I'll give you some insight. Most people my age weren't given the option to do this. Computerized cars and city restrictions makes working on cars more difficult. What I've learned I've taught myself (thanks YouTube). My parents generation just generally don't know the basic.

Another thing to think about is that my parents generation got pushed to go to university and pushed away from trade schools.

Luckily my parents were of the mindset to let me get hurt and dirty, but so many of my friends parents would stop us from doing stuff the could hurt us. Or stop us from getting dirty. Video games became easier because there's less fear of getting hurt. We're inside. Helecoptered. (Us kids never gave a damn about participation trophies, but our parents did)

I do think the shift to letting kids be kids is happening with my generation having children. A lot of us felt a little robbed of that. And growing up with technology as it is more now helps us understand what to limit.

So thank you for giving kids a place to work and use tools. You have forever changed their life. It's like riding a bike. Learn to wrench a little and basic things like changing a flat tire will never scare them. I know for sure that my future kids and any of their friends who want to help are welcome in my garage.

Speaking for the generation of which your parents are part of. Ours was a generation of drastic change for certain. We were in our teens when the computer age started booming. Fast forward a few years to the 90's, cars were definitely becoming more technically advanced, with fuel injection, anti lock brakes, and the like, but not so much that I didn't have my son out in the garage with me while I was working on my car or the lawn mower, etc. Technology wasn't so far advanced that regular maintenance was beyond the average ability of the DIYer.

My take on the problem is this.... Society in general started to shift from "The Family Unit" where Mom's and Dad's were the ones responsible for teaching their children all things not the 3 Rs, to Moms and Dads working more hours, spending less at home and kids being left to fend for themselves more and more often.

Now this is just my opinion but it seems the more tech we introduce the easier it becomes to disconnect from the basic...