Teaching the young ones to restore!

[hls30.com]

This afternoon I came to the conclusion it was time to teach the boy to work on cars. I came to this decision because I recently realized those pesky elves were not getting my Z back together and if it was to be it was upto me to get everything else out of the way. That means when I have Daddy duty on a rainy day and the Garage beckons, we could spend a guilt free hour or so out there. To get to that point I have to make the garage less of a saftey issue, and Thomas more at home with what goes on out there.

Today was "show Thomas what to do" day. I bought this car for him before he was born, and it has been in his room ever since. He has pushed and ridden it all over.

I started slow, and with only one tool-a screwdriver. Before I knew what had happened-in less than 10 minutes, and with only a screwdriver, he had the engine out!

Picture one: "I get to take this apart-YEEEHAW!

Picture two: Remove a sparkplug so I can get the engine out!

Picture 3: he just dropped the block on his toe-I have to spend some more time on saftey-he has a bad case of "I don't need no stinking instructions"!

Will

[FirstGenZ]

My kids grew up in my shop. This brings back great memories. Thanks.

[beandip]

This bad case of "I don't need no stinking instructions"!

Will

Will , this sounds like a couple of Z drivers that ask for help and then argue when the are told something they didn't want to hear . Gary ROFL

[moonpup]

I know just what the little bugger is thinking.

[theianmonster]

You have one gnarly kid, haha.

[hls30.com]

I know just what the little bugger is thinking.

Why do you tink we started with the smaller of his cars?

He demanded ownership of my '68 2000 the moment it came to the house.

Check my gallery...

Will

[SavannahZ]

I started slow, and with only one tool-a screwdriver. Before I knew what had happened-in less than 10 minutes, and with only a screwdriver, he had the engine out!

Will

Definately a chip of the ol' block, Will!

[boyblunda]

Good one Will. I noticed that the Zed seems well out of possible harm's way in these early pictures and that is a good thing too!

I recently had a similar motivation and experience when I was baby sitting my three year old nephew. Young Mitchell likes doing things with me and I had not cleaned my Zed for a while so I thought we could do the job together. He loved the bubbles that came up in the bucket with the car shampoo and was delighted to work on the low pieces with his bucket and sponge as I started high and did the bits he missed as I followed him around the car. We then got a chamois each and dried the car of with the same responsibilities for area as before. He loved being able to see his face in the reflections of the car as he used the clean rag to wipe of the polish I had applied. It was a good fun bonding experience as we applied ourselves to the common and shared tasks. It took twice as long to do the job due to the extra preparation and positive reinforcement required but at least we got the job done and he was well occupied and supervised.

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was particularly important to constantly work alongside the young fellow car anthusiast. The one time we took different tasks out of direct eye contact was when he was hosing the soapy water off the car - another great job for a kid as they get the visual reinforcement of the bubbles washing away and the clean car being unveiled. In the short time he was not under my direct eye, the hose was inserted into the exhaust and the muffler was filled with water. Fortunately, it was an old muffler and there was no great trauma for either of us.

However, it is a great way to spend some time with a youngster.

[Victor Laury]

Have some class. Get some Datsun stickers for the kid's Big Wheel!

[Alfadog]

That's so awesome Will, what a great dad... bet he's gunna brag about you to all his friends at kindy

By the way, it's Father's Day in Australia today!

[hls30.com]

Have some class. Get some Datsun stickers for the kid's Big Wheel!

Victor,

He got HIS Datsun Roadster at fifteen months-I'm not sure some Datsun stickers on a big wheel would even rate a first look to him-still it would say Datsun, he might be impressed...He doesn't have a Big Wheel-I know I am depriving him! He got the 2000 instead-something about knowing the men from the boys, and buying him the right toy the first time!

I want him to learn-"you don't touch a Datsun untill you you know what you are doing!-he should learn on somthing unimportant like you know one of the non-discript cars...He gets to work in Datsun Alley(the Garage) when he gets a little more competent-like after lunch !

Actually there is a local car show tomorrow, we will go to that and go from there!

Will

[TomoHawk]

Don't show him your wheel wrench until he's 16!