Now hiring: tinkerers and putterers
My Grandpa used to have a tiny workshop outside the mobile home he lived in with my Nana. I remember seeing rows of baby food jars filled with all sorts of nails, screws, and other little parts and tools that were essential to his handmade projects. Every once in a while he’d say, “I’m going outside to putter for a while,” and that’s what he would do. Putter. That word is still in the dictionary but hardly a part of our everyday vocabulary any more.
image by Schilling 2
This week a fascinating poll, sponsored by Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs, The Foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl., was released that shows just how far Americans have come from the days when Dad could fix or build anything. Of the 1,000 adults polled, 58% said they had never built or made a toy. 60% say they avoid handling household repairs themselves, and astonishingly, 73% of the teens polled said they have no interest in blue collar jobs. In other words, these teens are happy to be in the same positions as the sons of one of my good friends.
This friend is in dire financial straits. She’s a single mom of two grown sons who live at home. Both have jobs. One works at a movie theater and the other at Walgreen’s. Honestly, 12 year-olds can stock shelves and fill popcorn buckets. What these two young men need to learn are trades. They need to learn to tinker around with things, build things, and learn how to make broken things work. They need to learn to putter.
From many indications, our nation’s economy is headed downward, still. The same skills and knowledge that, apparently, teens and many adults shun will become more and more valuable. Hey, if your washing machine isn’t working and you can’t afford a new one, what are you going to do? Call a (blue collar) appliance repairman! A (blue collar) plumber will come to your rescue when your indoor plumbing is backed up for unknown reasons. In the economy of the future, it may very well be the blue collar families who prosper most.
Most older teens and young adults earn money in order to buy the latest fads, pay for dates, expensive toys and perhaps their car payments. Unless that income is absolutely necessary, it may pay off in the long run to work for a time as an unpaid apprentice learning electrical wiring, car repair, carpentry, or any number of blue collar skills.
An example of how well this can work out is a former employee of ours’, Josh. My husband hired Josh right out of high school and put him to work as a $9 an hour helper in an electrical contracting business. Over a period of five years, he took classes in residential wiring and became quite a good electrician. When the construction business slowed and Josh was laid off, he quickly got a job in the electrical department of Home Depot and recently was promoted. In addition to his hours there, he picks up odd electrical jobs and occasionally works for his former employer. Financially, he’s doing quite well while most of his buddies from high school have been unemployed for months.
It turns out that blue collar professions may be the best way to earn an income as our economy goes from bad to worse. During boom years, these professions do quite well also. Encourage your kids from an early age to build things, invent things, tinker and putter. Give gifts of bird house kits and kid-sized real tools, and let them learn the joy and pride of building something with their own hands.
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Excellent post. A former coworker of mine often lamented about how hard it is to find someone who can and will do the little jobs around the house. Most contractors want to focus on the big projects, not something that can be done in an hour or less. She even said that she would pay for classes in basic home repair for her sons if she could find anyone who offered them.
I grew up with a father who did little home repair beyond repainting. When I finished high school, I knew almost nothing about home repair and basic mechanics, but I had a strong desire to learn. Over the years, I've picked up quite a bit. I spent some time working in the student machine shop in college, and became fairly skilled at it. I try to tackle small home projects myself, even though it probably takes me three times as long as it would take a skilled professional. I recently had my father in law teach me some of the basics of home wiring. I still have a long way to go to consider myself an experienced putterer, but the satisfaction I get from finishing a job and knowing that I can do things for myself is immense.
Hi there, Joe! Lately most of my blog comments have been from guys. Go figure! My husband is also very handy around the house, and today I told him that if there is a worst case scenario with our economy, he could hang out a shingle advertising all his various handyman skills. I really believe those skills are going to be in high demand, especially in the areas of maintenance and repair.
I have had a long conversations with our plumber, our electrician, and our roofer about exactly this subject. WAAAAAAY too many people go to college, and for all the wrong reasons. And too many jobs require degrees for no good reason. It has always amazed me, as well, how little respect people seem to have for the fact that skilled tradesmen ARE skilled – particularly given the fact that they clearly haven't a clue how to do that job, or they wouldn't need the tradesmen. OK, rant ended.
If you want child-sized tools and safety gear (goggles, gloves, etc), Montessori Services and similar companies that provide goods to Montessori based schools have them. They also include classroom lessons for at least some of them.
Great suggestion. My 8 yo son has just started showing an interest in building things. Most recently he build an armored personnel carrier (gotta make sure I get the terminology correct!) out of Coke cans, popsicle sticks, and a cardboard carrier for a Coke 12-pack. It looks awesome! He loves helping his dad, so I'm hoping he's another little handyman in the making.
I so agree! When my youngest brother got out of the Army some 15 years ago, I told him to learn a trade, become an electrical apprentice. I owned my own electrical company at the time in Colorado with 15 guys working for me. He was in Texas and was moving to Kansas. He listened, and worked his way up. He came and totally wired my house in one afternoon, which we are building ourselves with cash and sweat. I was quite proud of him and his work was the best I've ever seen. Never can go wrong with a trade.
Dea, a few years ago when my husband was hiring electricians, we had a number of men call us who wanted to learn the trade. They were in white collar jobs but had realized the importance of knowing a trade. One said, "I wish I had learned a trade back when I was younger." Ideally, it's something a younger person could learn in their high school and college years and have the skills, even if they ultimately decided to go in a different direction. Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting!
The irony of reading this post today is not lost on me. Maybe the good Lord aimed it my way, I don't know. Last night my washing machine decided to go belly up on me. The lid switch messed up a month or so ago, but I was able to use a bit of gorilla glue to get it working again. I'm by no means a repairman, but my wife is my source of inspiration. That and the fact we're trying to save money, but mostly my wife. Long story short, it's past repair and will be replaced (parts cost more than buying a used replacement). But that's after I became very familiar with the basic design of the washing machine and how to take it apart.
But looking back, that's the way it is for me. It's part of the way I was raised. My grandpa built houses when he came out of the Air Force. He then switched to owning and maintaining rental houses. Growing up my older brother and I spent our pre-K years riding with him, playing gopher as he worked. Summers were spent helping him, or my folks, or my uncle working on roofs. We learned basic electrical, plumbing, and carpentry. Same with cars. Changing oil, tires, batteries…any basic repairs we were taught to do ourselves.
The result is I have become a jack of all trades. I haven't specialized in any one of them, but I know enough about them to at least get hired on a job if need be.
But then again, I wasn't raised like most of my generation or the following ones. I was raised that a man works for a living, and doesn't just wait for a handout. We grew a garden, we canned, etc. I fell away from that when I moved to the big city, but times have rekindled the urge to prepare within me.
Thanks for your thoughtful words.
Nathan, thanks for visiting my blog and commenting. I really think that appliance repair will be in HUGE demand as our economy continues to struggle. You know what I do when one of my appliances doesn't work? Don't laugh. I pray for it. Seriously! Our LG dishwasher that we thought was such a great quality machine has given us so many problems, and I swear, it's only my answered prayers that keep that thing going!
I had a pre-med friend in college. I've always thought he was brilliant, in the common-sense way not in the be-a-brain-surgeon way (although he was certainly that as well). He became a fully trained and certified EMT in college. He spent a year or two working between undergrad and med school. Who do you think looked better on med school apps? Who had an easier time learning anatomy and such? Dealing with blood and cadavers? And which paid better – working part time as an EMT or at the corner market selling slushie drinks? And he has another set of skills he can use.
If more people learned a skilled / licensed trade before getting fancier titles, the world would be a better place. Can you imagine if every car designer at GM was also a trained mechanic? If the architects designing homes had to lug full laundry baskets up the steps to the top floor for even a week or two? By learning basic skills and then moving on, the final product should be better, easier to use, and last longer, IMHO.