Today my little one did some damage to my 52 it was just him being a 4 yearold. Back a little we have six grown kids my oldest had a little boy 4 years ago and said take him or I will give him to somone, OK blood is blood. so when he was born we took him home from the hospt. His name is Marcus. He is rotton I was so busy working I didnt have time for the others I was makeing sure I didnt do that again. well he is as I said four and stands 4.2 and go,s at 68 LBS. we call him mouse ! ask him what is going to do when he plays football and he says make Q backs cry, got to love him right ? well today rideing his bike he dropped it on my 52, took a little filler out of the hood corner!!!!!!!!!!!!! I came in to my office. and started to think ten years ago I would have had a cow, now I dont know I am kinda calm, whats wrong with me I have to be getting old, LOL At 55 some days he runs me ragged and drained. but god I love him, rant over !
Doesn't really have to do with being old...."but god I love him, rant over" You said it right there. My wife has wrecked my truck twice in the past year. Each time she thinks I am going to flip a lid....I just tell here...'Its just body work and paint. Glad your alright. "
Keep it positive. He is just a little kid and has his whole life ahead of him full of fun and more lessons to learn. He is part of the future, so thanks for taking care of him. I would suggest asking him to help you fix it in a nice way and enjoy working on a nice project together and maybe he can learn from it and you can do something fun together that will bring you both enjoyment. Its an opportunity, not a problem.
You ol' softy. Whats that saying,"with age comes wisdom". May be time to teach him how to do some body work.
". . .as I said four and stands 4.2 and go,s at 68 LBS." Is that mouse or Moose. Jeeze I was 3'6" and weighed 37 pounds when I was 7. Sounds to me like you're not old just mellowed a bit. When I was 4 I dumped my Dad's Henderson Four cylinder over in the garage. My braces scratched the paint as I was trying to get off. He through a fit @ first. I still recall that part and well getting to rub on the tank with a real piece of sandpaper. Don't let it bother ya, he'll maybe grow up and you'll sratch his car someday.
LOL. When my son was real little I was working on one of my cars and he picked up a small sledge and walked along the length of the car, hitting it with the hammer, saying "Daddy, I fix car". A few chips and dings, so what? It's just a car. I smiled then and I still smile now, thinking about it; that was my boy, and he wanted to help! What's better than your own kid?
I think that at some point you realize that its just an old car. Things can be fixed. Like you said, blood is blood
My youngest played tic-tac-toe on the side of the wifes BRAND NEW Chevy van in '87.I came in and said,calmly,"someones been playing tic-tac-toe on the side of the van".The youngest said"that was me ,and I won 4 times!".Oh ,I forgot to mention,he was using a ROCK to scratch it into the paint,no,make that into the STEEL!What could I do,he fessed up immediately,I steamed up inside,and let it p***.Then I let him help Dad do a little ,no a LOT of sanding!
LOL.... when I was growing up my mom and dad would fix up cl***ic Mustangs in their free time to help make ends meet for the family. I specifically remember pulling NOS rocker panel trim out of the original FoMoCo wrappers... handing one to my brother and keeping one... we played swords with 'em until they were so bent up there wasn't a straight part on 'em. I don't remember if the old man got pissed or not. I think he just ******ed 'em out of our hands and walked away... or maybe there's a reason I don't remember?? Hmmm... I find I get more pissed off about the little things with my wife (car related) then the big things. Drop the wash sponge in the mud... i'll throw a fit... run the car over a curb stop and scratch the bumper... no big deal... i'll just fix it... Guess i'm just retarded...
There's another saying .... would buy a kid for a buck, would sell mine for a million. Our 64 GTO still sports a dent from carless naviagiton of child and bicycle. We do point the dent out from time to time to him now that he is close to an adult and we all laugh about back in the day. Memories are made ........... LOL Gotta love 'em
That's the great part of youth . When you were younger you would have sold him to Arab slave traders , now you'll have to keep him and live with it .
Dad used to paint cars on the weekend in SOCAL for extra money. Once he was painting a Chevy shortwide pickup and he was finishing the body work on it. I picked up a body hammer and walked all the way around the truck - got each and every panel - but I was helping. Worst thing about it was that truck was going to be and was painted black. Also reminds me of another story they tell. Dad had a buddy who was still in the Navy and drove a yellow '72 Vette. One morning they heard a 'thump thump thump' and looked outside to see me jumping up and down on the front fender! Hell, I couldn't have been 4 or 5...
let's see.. look out the back door to see son slashing away at leather seats i'd saved to use in a '51 Ford... aw geeez.. ya gotta be kidding me. he loves cars but is completely ignorant around one. believe me, i TRIED to get some rust in his blood but it didn't take. (his mama's side i bet). his wife is dealing with it now...
I wasn't there when it happened but a little kid helping his dad in the shop. Dad was ignoring him until he noticed "little johhny" had the floor jack under the rocker panel instead of the frame. Door never closed the same again. That's what kids do! I wouldn't trade mine for the world!
agree, things do happen, I am 67 plus and have been on both sides... I dont remember this but mom use to tell me that I got in dad's 39 dodge, took it out of gear and ran down hill into a telephone pole, they said I was lucky because of a deep drop off.. guess I was about 4 at the time... loved old cars ever since..
Your not getting old you are getting wiser. You raised your kids and learned from that so it translates to more patience with the grandkids. I know mine lived with me since he was born. He's twelve now and a big help around the house and on my cars.
Yeah my Dad softened up real good when the grandkids came along. Now what you need to do is show him how to fix it. He will remember it for the rest of his like and everytime he sees the car he will say you and him fixed it.
Cars and toys are just that .We lost our new born son a few months ago knocked me back to earth.Don't get me wrong I care about my toys but I love my family and friends.My 2 cents
My 3yr old girl came into the shop recently when I was changing the oil in the Biscayne and still under the car. She asks me what the big orange thing is (jackstand) if she could touch it as she's reaching for the lever to drop extension, and thus the car. I "redirected" her to the tool tray and she sat down happily "wrenching" on a wasted fuel pump and a couple other odds 'n ends until I got out from under the car. Maybe it's having spent time teaching Kindergartners, maybe it's "just me", but I've found that kids need only love and gentle guidance from a caregiver to really take to something, cars included.
I am getting old and have found that the yelling and screaming at kids does more damage than good. The car can be fixed. Have him 'help'. Good for you for taking care of this young man and giving him the love and training (teaching) that he needs to grow into a decent person. Mike
I was driving by a house the other day, saw two little boys jumpin up and down on their moms car hood. I was going to stop and tell them " Yall stop that". But the damage was already done. You dont get to see that everyday, so I just slowed down and watched, Lord forgive me.
63, I'm 58 and have learned to NEVER get under a car with just a jack holding it up. Ya might want to invest in a couple of stands.
Years ago I was franticly trying to get a motorcycle together when my 3-4 ish year old son picked up a taillight lens. I told him to be careful. Well he dropped and broke it. I yelled at him and told him to get out. He looked at me and said "daddy don't ever tell me to get out" I hugged him and apologised but have never forgiven myself. When you are really getting old is when these stories tear you up. Gary
reminds me of when i was 8 or 9. my dad had this porsche 914, with a steel slant nose, and subtly flared rear "fenders". i was making a bowl out of mahogony on the wood lathe. i hadnt quite knocked all the corners off yet and the thing came off of the plate i had glued it to, went bouncing across the garage and smacks the right front fender, leaving a nice little ding, and knocking the turnsignal off. as an 8- 9 year old kid i immediatly tried to cover it up. i ran for the 2 side tape and taped thesignal back on, but i couldnt fix the ding. i though pops was gonna freak out on me, as the car had just been painted the previous year, and was rarely driven. he didnt notice for a week, but when he did he wasnt even mad. we sold that car back to germany about ten years ago, and it is currently on some racing circuit. that had to be the most stable car ive ever driven. i could not break that ****er loose.
when my oldest daughter was 4...she came out with her mom to see what i was doing...my wife sits her up on the fender...and she proceeds to find a shiny chrome wrench to beat on the fender...not a problem i had a thick padded fender cover on it...she suddenly loses her grip on the wrench...and its a bullseye dart right into the radiator....no padding there but lots of leaking anti freeze...i laughed till i couldnt see...what are the odds of that happening...fast forward a bunch of years and the oldest is a teenager and i have another little one going on 4...she is out helping me work on my car...i was sanding parts down so i could rattle can them...the little one pics up a piece of sandpaper and starts sanding some of the parts i have on the ground... She sands a little here and a little there...they get bored really quick at that age...and before i knew it she had wandered off...i thought she had gone further into the yard to play...but nope...i see her scrunched down...a bottle of juice in one hand...the sand paper in the other washing my shiny radir aluminum rim for me...i still get a laugh out of those to moments in my life....no its not getting old...its called pay back for all of the things i did to my dad...he still tells me about all the things i did to him...like cutting up all of the brand new weather stripping for his car with a pair of side cutters... Or the best one taking all of the screws out of his newly rebuilt carb just to see how many pieces were in one carb....I did put all of the pieces in my red wagon...no to me getting old is when you used to be able to man handle a ****** out of your car with out a jack and not even break a sweat doing it...now i am looking for the jack...or when you could manhandle motors around like nothing...and now your left drafting your daughters football boyfriend to give you a hand because that big block motor some how got really heavy for some weird reason...
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