I wish there were some kids in my neighborhood that would want to hang out and learn some things. Not many kids around us.
I think the very first thing I would fry to teach them is safety and respect for machinery and tools. Preventative maintenance would probably be the next item. I honestly don't think safety can be stressed enough. Another biggie.....patience! Take your time and consider your actions.
Thanks for a very thoughtful post.

 

Back in the day I taught a couple of people some basic woodworking and some mechanical skills. Now it's an older neighborhood and all the younger ones are gone. They've found things like cell phones and Pokey man Go and are into that instead. Ironically the girls seemed to have more desire to learn than the boys did IMO. The girls would listen and learn without any preconceived notions that many of the boys had.

Most are into a throwaway mentality now, don't work - pitch it and get another.

It was hard though to teach my daughters basic things like how to change a flat tire. They would rather call motorclub instead.

 

Yes sometimes there are areas where kids are not present in the immediate area. I found by talking to some of the local school teachers that they would usually have a kid in mind that they would talk to to see if they were interested.
These are the ones that would be a couple miles away that you would not normally see, Church Youth Pastors, and even juvenile child services through the court has a list of kids that actually were never in trouble just in bad family settings that need someone to just care.

When I was young at school 7th grade we had shop class all the way to 12th grade which was elective and included automotive , small engine , wood working, welding,arc and oxy acetylene, mechanical drawing, we even had a forestry class that was seniors only and it produced about 15 cords of pulpwood a week that the local paper mill bought and the money went into new tools for the classes, and there was even a counter girls class of each as well and the girls classes were normally always completely filled.
From 7th on up each year I was a teachers aid as I learned very young most of what was being taught.
Today they teach common core math??????

 

As a former Boy Scout (Life), Boy Scout leader, and Eagle Scout parent, seek out any youth organization and offer to pass on information and expertise. Boy Scout merit badge counselors are always in demand, and I'm sure that other youth organizations are looking for mechanically talented volunteers/mentors as well!

 

You know, there is one thing I thought of but forgot to add - lawyers. With the lawyer happy society we live in, if a kid so much as gets a sliver, so many parents are running to lawyers to sue. I was once told by someone in the school system that things like auto shop, wood shop etc were discontinued for 2 main reasons: expense and lawyers/law suits.
Back in the day when I was in Jr High and Sr High, I had some form of shop class every year. Some of those skills I still use today after graduating over 50 years ago. Most of the kids today will not have that knowledge or opportunity.

 

The other sad part is that most kids today don't even care to learn these type of things. Kids these days are given everything by their parents. I tried a couple of summers ago to find a teenager in my Mother's neighborhood to mow her lawn and offered to pay them a decent amount to do so. None of the kids were interested, most said they were too busy. When I was a teenager we couldn't wait for spring so we could get started setting up lawn mowing jobs for the summer.

 

I got my second job by my shop teacher's recommendation at machine shop.My first was pin boy. I still use some the skills I learned there. And yeah I installed the work ethic, go to work every day, and do a good job, learn from others, and offer advice , if asked, or just offer.
Sid

 

I would love if a young kid came to my garage and asked if he could help.

I did start a facebook group called HONDA SNOWBLOWER ENTHUSIASTS to help Honda owners save money on basic maintenance and repairs. Some members here have joined . Some are small engine shop owners and we even Have a Honda dealer who joined.

It's nice that we can help people save money. I just wish some young person would like to learn the trade. I would start them off cleaning tools and parts and the shop every day for a month and if they hung around after all that grunt work would start showing them some basic stuff.

kind of like mr. miagi in karate kid.