If you have kids in your life, whether they’re your own children or just ones you know, teaching them about automotive mechanics and vehicle maintenance is a great thing to do. Truth be told, knowing how to keep vehicles in good running condition is a life skill that ranks high in importance. Giving young people the know-how about automotive mechanics is a skill that will pay off for them throughout their life.
Why teaching kids about automotive mechanics is important
1) Giving kids confidence and independence: Without knowledge about handling breakdowns and mechanical failures, the driver is less able to respond appropriately. Mechanical breakdowns and failures are part of owning a vehicle. When those occurrences happen, knowing what has gone wrong and how to fix it are essential life skills.
2) Making kids more savvy vehicle repair consumers: Even if kids never become do-it-yourselfers, a good basic knowledge about automotive mechanics will help them when talking with technicians at repair garages. Being able to talk confidently with a repair shop mechanic feels more reassuring than not knowing if you’re getting good recommendations or not.
3) Feeling more confident as a parent: If the kids we’re talking about are your kids, you want to make sure you’re sending them out into the world fully prepared to deal with life issues. It really doesn’t matter if your kids are 15, 25 or 35 years old, as a parent, you never really stop worrying about them. If you’ve taught your kids how to handle automotive maintenance, that’s one less thing to worry about whether they’re still living at home or out on their own.
4) Inspiring the next generation of mechanics: Teaching kids about vehicle mechanics may inspire a certain number of them to seek it out as a career. For those who discover they have a knack for automotive maintenance, it could prove to be the path to a good lifelong job. Helping kids open their eyes to the possibility of a career in auto mechanics is a good deed.
How to best approach teaching automotive mechanics to kids
1) Introduction to major components: A great place to start is opening the hood and pointing out major components like the battery, alternator, starter, radiator, water pump and fuel pump. Once you cover all the best-known parts, you may delve even deeper with lesser-known components like solenoids and voltage regulators. You can then follow up with an explanation of what each component does in the operation of a vehicle. To prevent overwhelming the young learner, you may want to break up these explanations into several sessions.
2) Hands-on work: If you have a repair needing to be done, it’s the perfect time to show a kid how to do it. There’s no better learning method than seeing how a task is performed. Be prepared to explain steps along the way and encourage questions as the work is being done.
3) Online videos: With the help of the internet, there are many how-to videos that show just about any repair project or task you can imagine. While not quite as good as an actual hands-on demonstration, many videos are well done and extremely helpful, especially if a knowledgeable person is available to fill in any gaps in information and to answer questions.
4) Honestly evaluate your child’s interest: Knowledge about automotive maintenance will serve everyone well throughout life. But as you teach children in your life, pay attention to their interest levels. For some kids, it will simply turn out to be good-to-know information and for others it may become a passion. Accept the fact that every person is different in how interested they will be.
Open a kid’s eyes to the world of automotive mechanics
You never know the level of interest kids will take in auto mechanics, but you’ll be doing them a favor by at least introducing them to it. It’s an important life skill that will come in handy throughout life.
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