On Mon, 2 Mar 2020 16:44:10 +0000, R D S wrote:

I'm provoked to post this after the thread about whether people DIY or
not anymore.
I've been wondering for some time, in particular WRT my own kids (both
men now in their 20s) if their lives have been so much easier that
necessity has *not* bred any variant of invention.

They are so needy and incapable that I had occasionally wondered if they
were on some spectrum or other but I speak to other people my age and it
sounds par.

snip

63 here with a 39 year old daughter so not sure if we are in the same
category.

When daughter was young I would encourage her to 'help' in whatever I
was doing and if she wanted to, learn how to do it herself. The first
example of that was her soldering up a Vellerman LED xmas tree project
when she was about 6. ;-)

'We' made her dolls house after that (daughter was happy using the
vibro saw) and she had a go in the workshop on the pillar drill
helping me make a bench or welding and angle grinding etc.

Oversize gloves, goggles and other PPE didn't make it any easier for
her but she generally did well (she joined some scraps together with
my MIG welder and put her initial on the front better than I could
have!).

When an elderly family friend needed some decorating doing, daughter
and I did it and from that, daughter recently decorate her own flat
(and very nicely I'm pleased to say. Good prep, good coverage, neat
cutting in / masking).

She also does most of the straightforward jobs on her own vehicles,
assuming you consider changing the alternator overrun clutch on her
Transit Connect or the rear springs on her Corsa straightforward. ;-)

She also serviced her Suzuki 600 Bandit and stripped the carbs off and
down to clean them.

Now to be fair, she does most of that under (my) supervision because
1) she still learning and 2) mistakes can be expensive but the point
is that she does them.

That said, she also mentioned the other day that the Dyson she bought
us, borrowed and hasn't given back, wasn't working properly the other
(pulsing intermittently) and TBF she had cleaned the canister, removed
the roller and de-haired that, but 1) (as you say) didn't know there
was a washable filter hidden in the man body and then 2) didn't think
to look between the main intake and the canister to see if there was
still stuff blocking the airways.

I guess part of the issue is that 1) I am still about and so would she
have tried harder if 2) it was her own stuff (not wanting to risk
breaking something that wasn't hers).

She used to maintain her own chainsaws but was taught that at Arb
College.

So I think it's a mix of need, opportunity (to learn / be taught / be
mentored), things being much cheaper and so more disposable than they
were (cost / disposable income) and things being more reliable but
less repairable than they once were (but I thought there was talk of
that changing)?

The good thing is that her first thought is 'can it be fixed' (by her
then me / us), not just throwing it away and just buying a new one.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. She was also sponsored by an RC Model Car magazine when she was
racing 12th scale RC saloon cars. Whilst she did initially build her
cars, 'Dad' did most of the pit work / tuning. But then I seemed to be
doing that for half the younger drivers that turned up there ... just
dumped off by their parents and with little in the way of spares or
tools. ;-(

The guys that ran the club used to point them towards me ... 'If you
take these spares you have just bought over to that man over there and
ask him nicely, he may fit them for you ...!' (and of course I did).
;-)