Can your son read a tape measure?

[fenceman]

Hired two boys just out of high school. Off for the summer then college bound. Watching these two today, I want to ask .
Can your son read a tape measure, can he change a tire or hook up jumper cables? Does he know the pointy end of a shovel goes down.
Now I can understand wanting your son to do something different in life. But maybe you should teach him these things. Apparently they are becoming lost arts.

 

[cow pollinater]

I teach my son that that is the stuff that matters. He can turn any one of those into a business and if he decides to go further he'll always have know how to fall back on and if nothing else he'll be money ahead for not having to hire everything done.

 

[LRTX1]

It's sad really, I work with some guys that are clueless at real world tasks. They can do the job we do because they were trained and have written instructions to follow. They do not take the most logical steps to complete tasks that are off the book.

 

[skyhightree1]

Hired two boys just out of high school. Off for the summer then college bound. Watching these two today, I want to ask .
Can your son read a tape measure, can he change a tire or hook up jumper cables? Does he know the pointy end of a shovel goes down.
Now I can understand wanting your son to do something different in life. But maybe you should teach him these things. Apparently they are becoming lost arts.

hold on FM. ... not all shovels have a pointed end lol they had never seen that version before :lol2: I often use the handle end to temper dirt around posts and maybe I am teaching bad habits to those who watch me that do not know any better ;-) I guess I will stop immediately

 

[fenceman]

Hired two boys just out of high school. Off for the summer then college bound. Watching these two today, I want to ask .
Can your son read a tape measure, can he change a tire or hook up jumper cables? Does he know the pointy end of a shovel goes down.
Now I can understand wanting your son to do something different in life. But maybe you should teach him these things. Apparently they are becoming lost arts.

hold on FM. ... not all shovels have a pointed end lol they had never seen that version before :lol2: I often use the handle end to temper dirt around posts and maybe I am teaching bad habits to those who watch me that do not know any better ;-) I guess I will stop immediately

Looks like we found the problem, I shoulda known. ;-) :lol:

 

[Dave]

My two sons are better at that stuff than I am. But they are in their 30's and work in the construction trades. I taught them what little I know and they learned a whole lot more when they went off on their own.

 

[JW IN VA]

YEs ,Yeah And Yes.And so does my daughter

 

[HDRider]

YEs ,Yeah And Yes.And so does my daughter

There you go, mine too.

Fenceman - You are right tho, too few and far between...

 

[jedstivers]

I hand to hire the son of a friend one summer to try and teach him all that stuff, even his mother said he was dumb as a box of rocks even though he was very smart book wise.
Well by the end of the summer I finally had him able to pit a tire on a simple running gear, that's all I was able to do with him.
He wasn't on the job long before his nickname was Skillett. I seemed to fit.
My ten year old was with me all day today laying roll out irregation pipe, I spent the day showing him how to survey, he got it quick.

 

[AdamsCreek]

I'd add drive a stick shift to that list Fenceman. I've give up on hiring American kids. Can't read a tape can't swing a hammer and run from work like it's a catching disease. I have noticed they're pretty good at taking pictures of their self with their phones.

 

[Nesikep]

I've been able to read tape measures since early elementary school (about the time they teach fractions)... I graduated to learning vernier calipers shortly after. Learned stick shift on a tractor when we bought the farm, I was about 12... I think they're important things to know.

That being said, good math skills don't end at being able to read a tape measure, and I use some of my university level math once in a while too... like if you have 200 sq ft of mesh for a chicken run that will be 6 feet high, square, and covered, what's the optimal length of a side?.. what if one side is shared with the hen house?

 

[plumber_greg]

One of the reasons my son knows all that kind of stuff is what made him such a good college student. He found out real quick he didn't want to do it for a living. gs

 

[Jogeephus]

I remember one time I asked a high school boy who was helping me to go and get a goat unstuck from the woven fence. A few minutes later I see the boy walking back to me with a big smile on his face and a pair of wire cutters in his hand and he proudly said, "I got him out".

For some reason the old saying, "can't see the forest for the trees came to mind".

 

[Bigfoot]

Posted this twice, and deleated it without submitting. Almost started a thread about it, the day it happened, and talked myself out of it.

Last week, I had my two ten year olds shuttling hay to the barn. They would put 3 rolls on a trailer, and two on the tractor of course. The field was flat, and this is there second year doing it. They put the hay, in a half moon around the barn, and I stack it. Ball park guess, they've done 300 rolls that way. They started the job, with me lurking very close on the 4 wheeler. After a few loads, a stayed in the field, and was filling up my sprayer. My phone rings, and it's a neighbor. They weren't mad, and made sure to explain to me not to mad. I agreed, and they told me the kids had no business moving hay. I actually agree. It can be a very dangerous job. If something bad happened, I would have felt completely terrible. I don't have one thing to say in my defense. If somebody jumps my case, I'm fine with that. I am also not looking for someone to come to my defense, and support my decision to let them move hay.

I will continue to let them operate equipment on the farm, and yes I do worry about them. I would also worry about them, if they enetered life with zero skill set, and no work ethic. I balanced both sides, and let them move hay rolls. Probably a bad choice, and I'm not mad at all about my neighbor calling me. She raised her kids her way, and I'm raising mine my way.

 

[M-5]

nothing wrong with it. That's what wrong with the world today and all the wussys we have. everyone wants to coddle the kids. tell the neighbor to pizz off.

 

[fenceman]

Posted this twice, and deleated it without submitting. Almost started a thread about it, the day it happened, and talked myself out of it.

Last week, I had my two ten year olds shuttling hay to the barn. They would put 3 rolls on a trailer, and two on the tractor of course. The field was flat, and this is there second year doing it. They put the hay, in a half moon around the barn, and I stack it. Ball park guess, they've done 300 rolls that way. They started the job, with me lurking very close on the 4 wheeler. After a few loads, a stayed in the field, and was filling up my sprayer. My phone rings, and it's a neighbor. They weren't mad, and made sure to explain to me not to mad. I agreed, and they told me the kids had no business moving hay. I actually agree. It can be a very dangerous job. If something bad happened, I would have felt completely terrible. I don't have one thing to say in my defense. If somebody jumps my case, I'm fine with that. I am also not looking for someone to come to my defense, and support my decision to let them move hay.

I will continue to let them operate equipment on the farm, and yes I do worry about them. I would also worry about them, if they enetered life with zero skill set, and no work ethic. I balanced both sides, and let them move hay rolls. Probably a bad choice, and I'm not mad at all about my neighbor calling me. She raised her kids her way, and I'm raising mine my way.

Absolutely nothing wrong with this. I commend you for it. The world is full of perils. Bad things can happen anywhere at anytime. Your teaching those boys more than driving a tractor. Your teaching them to be aware and responsible. I'll bet they grow into confident and capable men, successful in whatever they do :tiphat:
It's one of my favorite things about horses. A young person who regularly is around horses, you can see the confidence in them. Something about handling horses develops a very capable person.

 

[D2Cat]

Ever recently tried to get a youngster to mow a yard? Won't be long and they won't know what the word "lawnmower" refers to. :help:

 

[JSCATTLE]

Both of my boys 7 and 11 years old can read a tape . But I'm a carpenter so that isn't too big of a deal . I make them work with me on everything I fix . Oldest can drive a truck and boat . Knows how to change a tire . Etc.. I'll teach them all I can before they move out .

 

[Jogeephus]

Posted this twice, and deleated it without submitting. Almost started a thread about it, the day it happened, and talked myself out of it.

Last week, I had my two ten year olds shuttling hay to the barn. They would put 3 rolls on a trailer, and two on the tractor of course. The field was flat, and this is there second year doing it. They put the hay, in a half moon around the barn, and I stack it. Ball park guess, they've done 300 rolls that way. They started the job, with me lurking very close on the 4 wheeler. After a few loads, a stayed in the field, and was filling up my sprayer. My phone rings, and it's a neighbor. They weren't mad, and made sure to explain to me not to mad. I agreed, and they told me the kids had no business moving hay. I actually agree. It can be a very dangerous job. If something bad happened, I would have felt completely terrible. I don't have one thing to say in my defense. If somebody jumps my case, I'm fine with that. I am also not looking for someone to come to my defense, and support my decision to let them move hay.

I will continue to let them operate equipment on the farm, and yes I do worry about them. I would also worry about them, if they entered life with zero skill set, and no work ethic. I balanced both sides, and let them move hay rolls. Probably a bad choice, and I'm not mad at all about my neighbor calling me. She raised her kids her way, and I'm raising mine my way.

Bigfoot, about two years ago a young boy was killed mowing his neighbor's grass. It was a terrible horrific accident. The boy had mowed the grass routinely and by all accounts was pretty proficient with the mower until the ZTR mower rolled over on him pinning him in the blades. Everyone in town was heartbroken because this was a good kid and the manner of death was so horrific. His death crushed the man who he was mowing for because he loved the kid and was only being nice to him by giving him a job and I know for a fact this man would have willingly jumped in the blades himself if he could have changed places with the boy. It was awful.

To make matters worse, our DA, a staunch democrat, said this was wrong and filed charges against the man for manslaughter as if it were his fault. The boy's family and the whole community was outraged at the DA and at one point I thought the DA was going to be drawn and quartered for having such an asinine view of life. Instead, she was promptly removed from office and moved away. Accidents happen. Teaching children how to work is a good thing and in most cases it teaches them common sense and how to work smart and work safe. You did nothing wrong and I can say my whole community agrees with you.

 

[talltimber]

I started driving a tractor, officially, doing field work, when I was about 9. I had driven around the turn rows and such on a little ford-ferg 30 learning how to drive before then. Anyhow, Papaw started me out on an Oliver 88 pulling a field cultivator with a drag harrow, running in front of him planting. I couldn't reach the clutch, so he'd stand on the drawbar and clutch it and put it in gear. He'd get it rolling, and step off, and I'd pour the coals to it. On the ends, being a close front end type, it would full-lock in the soft dirt if you tried turning it too sharp without adding a little brake steer. At one end of the field was a drainage ditch that was about 15' deep and at the other was the road ditch/road/power poles. Perfect place for a 9 yo to learn. :lol: