Child labour - when did you start you kids off in DIY

[treeturner123]

Of my 3 daughters, the eldest and youngest have some practical ability and will handle DIY and, for the youngest, some car work as she was taught the basics at secondary school.

The middle daughter relies on her partner who is a plasterer and plumber!

Now the eldest has reached her 40's, she has shown a very slight interest in my retirement hobby of turning!

Phil

 

[Rodpr]

I wish I could share tales of my childrens' adventures in making but none of my three really showed any interest in tools. Maybe it was down to the lack of enthusiasm I may have shown when evenings and weekends after a week of teaching were filled with things that needed doing. Still waiting for grandchildren to see if it may have skipped a generation!

 

[niall Y]

It is interesting what your kids do manage to pick up. To my continued embarrassment my wife often recounts the story of my son , who was then, at that stage where he could string together understandable sentences, ( He is now in his 30's ) . He was sitting on the floor in our downstairs lobby, where I had been working. His hand was in a box of screws, which he was picking out one at a time and throwing across the floor to cries of " "That one's bu**ered"

 

[mc281]

Father of 3 girls here and despite my best efforts I haven't managed to persuade any of them to take any interest in woodwork or DIY, although I'm pretty sure that they may discover how useful some practical skills are when they have homes and independent lives of their own. I gave my eldest daughter a nice Victorinox camper knife when she left home for college this year, a "little toolbox in a knife" and she loves it! Practical skills are very much missing in today's world. When I was growing up there were always things to be mended and bodged, biggest problem was lack of proper tools for the job. No body knowshow to oanything know and it's a case of getting somebody in for even the simplest of jobs. The irony of it all is that with youtube and online resources in general you can learn to do pretty much much anything!

Interesting post..... I have a daughter and I too struggled to get her interested in practical stuff.
However it seems that DNA plays a bigger part than we imagine. She is now a Mum, Wife and is her family's practical member. She does not have time, space or money for a workshop but the gift is obviously smouldering in her somewhere, shown by the things she tackles in the home, including plaster skimming etc..
My grandson is just in secondary school and announced with no discussion that he IS GOING TO BE an Engineer! He's still not certain which branch but I'm convinced, knowing his character and knowledge that he will be an engineer of some sort.
Gives me a warm glow all over!

 

[Tweedy]

My son is yet to show even the slightest interest in design, making or tools.

No practical skills whatsoever.

He is only 2.5 weeks old, so there is time I suppose.

Those who have managed to get their progeny interested, what did you do/avoid?

 

[paulrbarnard]

My son is yet to show even the slightest interest in design, making or tools.

No practical skills whatsoever.

He is only 2.5 weeks old, so there is time I suppose.

Those who have managed to get their progeny interested, what did you do/avoid?

For me it was always letting them have a go. You just have to manage their expectations carefully so they don’t get frustrated. Let them make mistakes, give advice but not more than once per task.
I did buy them each a small tool box complete with a hammer (small claw hammer), hand drill (no exposed gears to catch fingers), a small key hole type saw, a tape measure, screw driver, pencil and a selection of nails and screws. They actually appeared under there from Santa but I think they know it was me now…

One of my daughters still has a small dovetailed box sat on her desk. She made it when she was eight or nine and it’s a prized possession despite a few gaps in the joints.

 

[Agent_zed]

Those who have managed to get their progeny interested, what did you do/avoid?

I just let my son see what i was doing and if he wanted to 'help' I'd let him have a go. Obviously not for really dangerous things like table saws but if it was nailing in a nail on some skirting or something I'd help him with the hammer etc even if it slowed down the job.

I didn't push it either, if he didn't want to do it fair enough.

I also try not to force an agenda on him either, if he wants to do knitting that's fine by me.

 

[bourbon]

For me it was always letting them have a go. You just have to manage their expectations carefully so they don’t get frustrated. Let them make mistakes, give advice but not more than once per task.
I did buy them each a small tool box complete with a hammer (small claw hammer), hand drill (no exposed gears to catch fingers), a small key hole type saw, a tape measure, screw driver, pencil and a selection of nails and screws. They actually appeared under there from Santa but I think they know it was me now…

One of my daughters still has a small dovetailed box sat on her desk. She made it when she was eight or nine and it’s a prized possession despite a few gaps in the joints.

When she made it, did you point them out?

 

[paulrbarnard]

When she made it, did you point them out?

Absolutely not . She knows they are there and probably no worse than the ones I do.
The only thing I would have done differently is a stop on the rebate for the bottom.

 

[scockram]

My son is yet to show even the slightest interest in design, making or tools.

No practical skills whatsoever.

He is only 2.5 weeks old, so there is time I suppose.

Those who have managed to get their progeny interested, what did you do/avoid?

I don't think you need to do much at all initially except give children some exposure to making things by hand. Their endless curiosity will do the rest. As soon as they do start getting hands on then just some gentle advice and guidance.
That's how it was/is with my son anyway. I've always had to hold him back whenever I'm doing something; he wants to get involved with everything. Gets a bit frustrating when he always wants the tools that I'm trying to use!

 

[bourbon]

Absolutely not . She knows they are there and probably no worse than the ones I do.
The only thing I would have done differently is a stop on the rebate for the bottom.
View attachment 171711

They are better than I could do at 59!

 

[bourbon]

When I'm at work, (Machine Mart) and a child comes in with dad, granddad or whoever. I make a point of giving them their own catalogue. usually, they are happy to be taking something of their own away.

 

[HamsterJam]

Several years back Father Christmas left basic tool kits for our children (sons and daughter) under the tree. The tools have been well used ever since, first fixing bicycles now cars, 4x4s, agricultural machinery and phone screens. (The toolkits have been added to in the intervening years)
All of them are quite confident at DIY now.

 

[Ozi]

My daughter put together (with a lot of supervision) 3 IKIA wall cupboards just before her 4th birthday, she is 15 now, I think that was the last thing she made. My sons show less interest, although I refuse to work on their cars unless they are there and at least pretending to be involved. I did try the "if you want me to do it get a quote from a garage first" approach, that can backfire if they are told something is a 2 hour job and I take a second more then I don't know what I'm doing - see where they get it from.

 

[mc281]

My son is yet to show even the slightest interest in design, making or tools.

No practical skills whatsoever.

He is only 2.5 weeks old, so there is time I suppose.

Those who have managed to get their progeny interested, what did you do/avoid?

My son has turned out to be better in many ways with workshop skills than I am as I'm nowt special. This was my approach.
I think the best advice is don't show them the ’proper' way to do things (in your opinion). Just let them in the workshop whenever they ask, making sure you are there in case they ask for advice or are about to make a serious error which could injure them.

 

[imageel]

Not child labour however I had my 29y old daughter have a go at TIG welding - 2 offcuts of 2mm angle iron lap-jointed autogenously as I thought having to manipulate filler rod and control the arc was going to be too difficult -I think she found it all a bit scary being that close to the arc, plus the noise and also the smell of the ozone, but it didn't come out too badly and for some years resided on her desk at work at Amazon's London HQ as a paperweight and a conversation point with her male co-workers!

Both my kids grew up in houses where Dad was always DIY'ing and learnt from an early age to navigate missing floorboards and the like but both often used to succumb to splinters from going around barefoot..!!

 

[Tweedy]

Thanks to all who have taken time to share their experiences! I've had some experience engaging the general public in making, but my own children will be a new adventure, I'll try and keep these things all in mind

 

[RogerS]

Those photos in the OP are brilliant, Paul. Utterly life affirming

 

[Doug71]

I have two sons, 14 and 11, both are pretty useless.

The 14yr old is worst, he can't even open a box of cornflakes without making a mess of it. I was quite impressed with a plywood smartphone speaker he made at school but it was all cnc and laser cut.

The 11yr old has a bit more about him on the practical side but he just likes taking things apart........ Anything you buy him lasts about a week before you find it perfectly disassembled, he just takes things apart and leaves all the pieces lined up like it's a kit ready to be assembled, it's a bit scary if I'm being honest

 

[Ozi]

I have two sons, 14 and 11, both are pretty useless.

The 14yr old is worst, he can't even open a box of cornflakes without making a mess of it. I was quite impressed with a plywood smartphone speaker he made at school but it was all cnc and laser cut.

The 11yr old has a bit more about him on the practical side but he just likes taking things apart........ Anything you buy him lasts about a week before you find it perfectly disassembled, he just takes things apart and leaves all the pieces lined up like it's a kit ready to be assembled, it's a bit scary if I'm being honest

I remember my Dad saying the same about me as you say about your 11 year old - it's not bad training as an engineer - but rubbish as a serial killer if you always find the bodies.