I wonder how many 12 year old girls...........

[Timber Wolf]

.................helped their Daddy replace rivets in their old Scamp last night? Seven down, only a hundred more, plus or minus, to go!

Was not too bad except for one that had been replaced previously, with a dadgum steel rivet. I wondered why it was drilling so hard.

[Donna D.]

Crank case oil and grease are my favorite perfumes because of the time I spent with my Dad while he rebuilt motors. MEMORIES! Whether it's learning to use a rivet gun or just messin' around... make those memories, they're priceless.

[Cathy P.]

I'm guessing not too many. Gosh, memories as Donna D. says. I used to help my dad, or I thought I was helping, when he worked on things. I tagged around behind him chatting a mile a minute.

It would have been great to have a trailer to work on though as a project back then and even greater if it was a family heirloom and mine now.

[Durangodeb]

You've got a keeper of a daughter there! (I'm speaking from experience - I'm a teacher). :0)

[Ludy]

I remember having to force my son to do different jobs like that. Some he enjoyed and some he did not.
Now at 17 years old, he is constantly saying " Look what I did"

[Al and Cindy K]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Crank case oil and grease are my favorite perfumes because of the time I spent with my Dad while he rebuilt motors. MEMORIES! Whether it's learning to use a rivet gun or just messin' around... make those memories, they're priceless.

Donna, my daughter grew up the same way.

When dating her now husband, she went to meet his family for the first time. That afternoon I was a bit surprised to see a call coming in from her on my cell (she usually calls her mother's number and almost always in the evening). She excitedly asked me to guess what she was doing and then quickly said 'helping Ken's Dad replace the brakes on his F430 Ferrari'.

Ken? He's a great son in law, a wonderful husband and and an even better father to our grand daughter but he'll be perfectly happy driving his eighty something four door Buick until the wheels fall off - and then stand back and let my daughter change the tire. Mechanical things are of absolutely no interest to him. My daughter now goes with her FIL to test drive and check out prospective 'toys'.

NOTE: She did not wrench on Ferrari's as a kid - a big Healey was as about as exotic as it got but we still enjoy talking 'cars' together.

[The Minimalist]

Quote from a friend: "I don't know how it works and I don't want to know how it works, much less how to fix it." Deprived............

[dvrcdlady]

One of the few times I skipped high school, I was under a Cameron helping drop the transmission!

[Dudley]

When my 16 year old son wanted a car, I traded a monitor for a Hyundai Excel with a seized motor and had him do the work to get it going. He is still turning wrenches on his Nissan 350z Nismo even though he is a Software Engineer in Silicon Valley and can afford to have it done. Grab any chance to learn that you can and take those memories and skills with you and you will never go wrong!

These trailers are a great learning experience with everything from plumbing, woodworking, mechanics, woodworking, you name it. Take it all in!

[rbryan]

It's kind of a shame that what passes for a "well rounded education" nowadays doesn't usually include practical education- like learning how stuff works, and learning the basics on how to build it, fix it, or maintain it. Much of that is simply parenting. Its always nice to see a parent who takes the time to mentor their kids, and teach them things they will never learn in school - things that will prove invaluable throughout their life. Writing this brings back memories of me working with my father when I was about 10 years old - shingling a roof, fixing a drain pipe, rebuilding a carb, replacing a window, etc. I can't thank him enough for giving me a real education.

[Dudley]

I agree with that statement! I spent my life fixing "broken things" including 25 years of copier repair. I took all kinds of shop classes in high school from basic woodworking to auto shop and have used that to build a lifetime of fixing everything from computers and printer/copiers to oil rigs. Now most of the schools up here have dropped the shop classes as being to expensive to run or a liability waiting to happen. Now in Alberta we are usually crying for tradesmen while the university grads are starving.

[David Tilston]

My then 15 year old daughter. Working on what was going to be her trailer, but I upgraded her to this trailer instead:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...0-a-61038.html

[Timber Wolf]

Mine has already called dibbs on the Scamp when she grows up. I figure giving it to here will be as good an excuse as any for me to succumb to “three-foot-i-tis” and get a larger trailer to carry me through my adventures in retirement.

I do have to relate a very sad (for me) story concerning her from just this morning though. I am driving her to Circus Camp (our local University has a Circus, and a Summer Camp program) and she is telling me all about her day yesterday. She mentioned her lunch break, so I asked what time they broke for lunch. After her reply I asked if I could work it into my schedule would she like me to come by and have lunch with her one day.

I get dead silence from the back seat for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually she says “um, you don’t need to bother, I have met a friend”. Dang, just kick ‘ol Dad to the curb and dash his feelings. Here I thought we had something special and we did not even make it to her being a “teen”. And just who the hell is this “friend”?

[MRClaus]

Dad be nice they all grow up .

[David Tilston]

Tim, We, (parents) are yesterdays news. She will love you forever, but will be embarrassed by you in front of her "friends". Just be glad she is finding her way socially. I have one who struggles with that.

[Sid]

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."

Some attribute this quote to Mark Twain and others do not. All I know is there is a thread of truth to it.
Sid

[RogerDat]

Originally Posted by MRClaus

Dad be nice they all grow up .

Yes they do, and eventually pick out your nursing home so it does not hurt to be on good terms.

Nice thing about kids in general when it comes to helping on a project, unlike a spouse they are more contented to just take directions and assist as requested. Spouses (male or female) tend to have more opinions based on reason and experience... or not. Either way their ideas and opinions must be taken into account.

Tough part is showing the left handed grandson how to use tools. Finally figured out I show him right handed he tries it right handed. Once that was worked out it went smoother.

Your daughter looks like she is having fun. More fun than my daughter did helping me clean push rods on a Ford straight 6 we rebuilt. But I do think she remembers it fondly. Now that the extremely messy part is behind her by 20 some years. <_<