Can you fix it?

The dishwasher just broke and it won't run anymore.  The brakes on the car are making that awful sound for about a week now.  The computer keeps getting this pop up that just won't go away.  The more things we have, the more things break!  

So what do you do about it?  Call a repairman or bring it to the shop?  That's expensive.  Fix it yourself?  "No way," you say!  You don't know how those things work, so there's no way that you can fix them.  You feel trapped with no way out.

One of the better "life skills" that I was taught is how to fix things.  My Dad taught me much of what I know.  Car things.  House things.  Toys.  Motorcycles.  Electrical things. Lots of things.  

I was also given an inquisitive nature when I was a child.  I was always taking things apart to see how they worked and then tried to put them back together again.  Sometimes they worked again - sometimes not.  But Dad would help me or tell me what I did wrong and how to make it better again.

This ability to fix things has paid huge dividends over the years.  When things break - which they always do - I usually have a better than 50/50 shot at being able to repair it myself.  And when I do, it saves a TON of money!  How many times do we just cringe at the rates for a service call and wish that we could do it our self?

This is especially true for car repair.  I am now able to repair about 3/4 of my issues that come up on my cars.  This really helps because I buy used cars and then keep them up myself.  It's a great combination - see my article here.  

I will also be teaching my kids how to do basic repair on their own cars.  When they start driving, I feel it is essential to understand some basics about the mechanics underneath so that they have some level of understanding when something breaks.  This will save them tons over the years of car ownership and will also give them the ability to talk with mechanics when they need to.  They don't have to be able to fix everything.  But they do need to understand simple things like the battery, the brakes, the tire pressure, oil changes, air filter changes, etc. Then having some level of theory on how an engine works, how an air conditioner works, how a transmission works will pay huge dividends when troubles come up.  Depending on their interest and their mechanical aptitude, I could teach them much more.

As for things around the house, I will try to teach my kids as much as possible.  Sometimes they're not interested, sometimes they are.  But that's because they don't yet know that they need to be able to do these things themselves at some level someday.  Or maybe they'll marry a man who can do this himself - who knows.  I hope the fathers of my daughters' future husbands are teaching them how to do these things, along with many other life skills.

If you don't know how to do some of these things already, then take a few minutes to learn something each time something needs repairing.  There are tons of places on the web that show how to fix specific things.  But more importantly, let's teach our kids how to fix things.  It's a better way!