Why don’t teen boys work on cars anymore?

[Anonymous]

your story is not particularly relevant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ds is going to take auto shop next year. I don't expect him to become a mechanic but he is interested in the class and we are all for it. He took woodshop in middle school and loved it.

There’s still a wood shop? Lucky kid. I saw them torn out of middle schools for trash computers about 20 years ago.

Yes! I love it that his middle school has it. They also have a computer lab classroom and he is going to take that too. We are in an area with an active FFA program so the high school may have woodshop as well. I am not sure. I was lucky to have taken woodshop and computer information systems both in high school. I went in to computer programming and I know how to do basic wood stuff around the house like putting in crown molding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars have become much more complicated. My boys can do a whole lot, but there are limits simply because of the technology involved in newer cars.

True, but my DH has taught my boys how to change the oil, change the break pads, check and top off all fluids and how to change a tire. I got a flat a few months ago and my 15yr old put the spare on for me. I had no idea how to do it (or even how to access my spare!) but my 15yr old son did. My DH also brings my boys in whenever he is doing anything around the house, such as plumbing, minor electrical, or any other mechanical work.

I'm grateful my boys have a traditional masculine role model to be patient with them and empower them to be knowledgeable about their surroundings.

What? This is 2019. Maybe you should have learned to change a flat tire yourself and learned about the basics of maintaining your house.

[Anonymous]

I taught my teen daughter how to change brake pads. She had to learn a change a tire, and my brakes needed to be done.

I used to do more to my car, but it can be difficult. My arms aren’t long enough, or strong enough for a lot of other things I know how to do. The physical space between parts just keeps getting smaller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It used to be that teen boys loved tinkering with their cars. Now, it seems that boys don’t have anywhere near the same interest in cars in general, much less a desire to mess around with them. Why is this?

Just curious how old are you, op? I've never seen any teen boy work on a car and I'm 52.

This. I graduated high school in the late 90's. I never saw any teen boy work on a car. DH graduated high school in mid-90s. I don't think he has any idea what is inside our car and certainly has never "tinkered" with a car in his life.

Okay. And I graduated in ‘96, and all the guys worked on cars. DH used to flip old Camaros in his teens.

In the 70's and early 80's it was common for boys to own beat up old muscle cars and work on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who has a car anymore though? I feel like most people I know don't own a car.

Where do you live, Manhattan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars have become much more complicated. My boys can do a whole lot, but there are limits simply because of the technology involved in newer cars.

True, but my DH has taught my boys how to change the oil, change the break pads, check and top off all fluids and how to change a tire. I got a flat a few months ago and my 15yr old put the spare on for me. I had no idea how to do it (or even how to access my spare!) but my 15yr old son did. My DH also brings my boys in whenever he is doing anything around the house, such as plumbing, minor electrical, or any other mechanical work.

I'm grateful my boys have a traditional masculine role model to be patient with them and empower them to be knowledgeable about their surroundings.

What? This is 2019. Maybe you should have learned to change a flat tire yourself and learned about the basics of maintaining your house.

Some of us enjoy traditional gender roles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cars have become much more complicated. My boys can do a whole lot, but there are limits simply because of the technology involved in newer cars.

True, but my DH has taught my boys how to change the oil, change the break pads, check and top off all fluids and how to change a tire. I got a flat a few months ago and my 15yr old put the spare on for me. I had no idea how to do it (or even how to access my spare!) but my 15yr old son did. My DH also brings my boys in whenever he is doing anything around the house, such as plumbing, minor electrical, or any other mechanical work.

I'm grateful my boys have a traditional masculine role model to be patient with them and empower them to be knowledgeable about their surroundings.

What? This is 2019. Maybe you should have learned to change a flat tire yourself and learned about the basics of maintaining your house.

Not needed. Didn't marry a soy boy.

[Anonymous]

Just curious how old are you, op? I've never seen any teen boy work on a car and I'm 52.

+1. I'm in my mid-40s and the only boys I've ever seen working on cars were on sitcoms.

Also, this is DCUM - people just the parents just buy their kids new Jeeps. No one is going to allow their child to purchase an old used car that needs to be fixed up. The moms on here think that cars that are more than 3 or 4 years old are unsafe - you aren't going to see any "muscle cars" in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Just curious how old are you, op? I've never seen any teen boy work on a car and I'm 52.

+1. I'm in my mid-40s and the only boys I've ever seen working on cars were on sitcoms.

Also, this is DCUM - people just the parents just buy their kids new Jeeps. No one is going to allow their child to purchase an old used car that needs to be fixed up. The moms on here think that cars that are more than 3 or 4 years old are unsafe - you aren't going to see any "muscle cars" in this area.

I've already posted that my teenagers (16, 14, 13) will be driving clunkers - if they don't buy they're own, they'll be sharing the family car, a 2000 Honda Odyssey. You also must live in a lily white neighborhood. Lots of Hispanic families do their own car repairs and our neighborhood has 2 low riders. I wouldn't be surprised try customizing a car that way. They fell in love with low riders when they saw one in Napoleon Dynamite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just curious how old are you, op? I've never seen any teen boy work on a car and I'm 52.

+1. I'm in my mid-40s and the only boys I've ever seen working on cars were on sitcoms.

Also, this is DCUM - people just the parents just buy their kids new Jeeps. No one is going to allow their child to purchase an old used car that needs to be fixed up. The moms on here think that cars that are more than 3 or 4 years old are unsafe - you aren't going to see any "muscle cars" in this area.

I've already posted that my teenagers (16, 14, 13) will be driving clunkers - if they don't buy they're own, they'll be sharing the family car, a 2000 Honda Odyssey. You also must live in a lily white neighborhood. Lots of Hispanic families do their own car repairs and our neighborhood has 2 low riders. I wouldn't be surprised try customizing a car that way. They fell in love with low riders when they saw one in Napoleon Dynamite.

I'm not likely to buy my kids cars but if they must drive their own cars as teens I'm getting them a new (or pretty new) Corolla or Civic. Far better safety record than most clunkers. That's what worries me the most.

I have no fear for someone aged 28 driving a clunker. But 16-20 is a different story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Just curious how old are you, op? I've never seen any teen boy work on a car and I'm 52.

+1. I'm in my mid-40s and the only boys I've ever seen working on cars were on sitcoms.

Also, this is DCUM - people just the parents just buy their kids new Jeeps. No one is going to allow their child to purchase an old used car that needs to be fixed up. The moms on here think that cars that are more than 3 or 4 years old are unsafe - you aren't going to see any "muscle cars" in this area.

I've already posted that my teenagers (16, 14, 13) will be driving clunkers - if they don't buy they're own, they'll be sharing the family car, a 2000 Honda Odyssey. You also must live in a lily white neighborhood. Lots of Hispanic families do their own car repairs and our neighborhood has 2 low riders. I wouldn't be surprised try customizing a car that way. They fell in love with low riders when they saw one in Napoleon Dynamite.

I posted a few pages back that I've never seen anyone working on cars, either in our neighborhood or growing up. (I'm 50). I agree that newer cars are safer, and so do the car experts and insurance companies. I did laugh at your comment on the lily white neighborhood, though--we're black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Just curious how old are you, op? I've never seen any teen boy work on a car and I'm 52.

+1. I'm in my mid-40s and the only boys I've ever seen working on cars were on sitcoms.

Also, this is DCUM - people just the parents just buy their kids new Jeeps. No one is going to allow their child to purchase an old used car that needs to be fixed up. The moms on here think that cars that are more than 3 or 4 years old are unsafe - you aren't going to see any "muscle cars" in this area.

Weird

I went to McLean high school, class of 1996 and 2 of my boyfriends in school worked on cars. One of them had an old classic car. Both of their families were filthy rich, and now they are wealthy too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It used to be that teen boys loved tinkering with their cars. Now, it seems that boys don’t have anywhere near the same interest in cars in general, much less a desire to mess around with them. Why is this?

All is left is washing and detailing. The engines got so complicated and sealed that now you are obsolete as a mechanic or tweaker you need experts to do that. So for the rest.. it is not so much fun but some still do that right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who has a car anymore though? I feel like most people I know don't own a car.

Where do you live, Manhattan?

No, PP lives on the moon, in case he would live on the Earth he must have seen cars. Quoting one and unforgettable Yogi Berra who happened to be asked about a popular restaurant.. "It is so crowded there, nobody goes there anymore"
By that token, the PP could say.. "cars? there are so many of them on the road, nobody wants to drive them anymore"