Does your dad ever make you feel like a failure?

[scrubbo]

I'm not talking about berating you for not hitting the game winning run, or beating your mom while you watch helplessly. I'm talking about rewiring the house, repairing the cars, re-roofing the garage, building us wooden puppets and toys, and being capable of fixing most anything around the house

Comments

[scrubbo]

Also, couch warming and chip disposal.

[ivorjawa]

Your kid is going to be lamenting about not being able to remove malware like dad could. Different age, different skills.

[scrubbo]

I'm pretty sure she'll have me beat in computer skills. She's not even two and knows how to navigate an iPod to get to the games she likes.

[ivorjawa]

Being able to use a shiny, compelling, designed to appeal to primates and other higher mammals by fucking experts interface (seriously, I've seen a cat playing with some iDevice) isn't the same thing as staring at a

READY.

prompt 30 years ago and making something.

I work with people who to whom C programming is as arcane as machine language -- not assembly, I mean talking raw fucking hex to the machine -- was to us when we were kids.

They can do things with JavaScript and style sheets that blow my mind, however.

[georgmi]

The way to get good at that kind of stuff--and I assure you, the way your dad got good at it--is by fucking it up the first six times. The important thing is to do all your failing before the kids are old enough to notice. :) Then when they're teenagers, you're just this awesome omnicompetent force of nature that they won't appreciate until they have to make a little toy rack for their own kids.

And the trick with chiseling? Slow and steady, tap lightly, take a little bit of wood at a time.

[jsonder]

A book or two on home repairs never hurts.

Everyone learns by trying to fix this or that in order to get it fixed quicker and/or cheaper. The lessons that I received from my father related to grass cutting and storm window washing

I probably set a longevity record, finishing the rewiring in the Butte house just in time to sell it. Roughly twenty years to complete that job.

[derek_i14]

Always expect the fail the first time you try something. It is a learning experience. The first time I tried to fix one of my bikes, I ended up nearly slicing part of a fingertip off. Then I destroyed a set of brake pads and had to bleed the brake lines about three times before I finally did it right.

Replacing tiles in my bathroom went the same way.

For most things, the worst you can do is waste some time and material... but in the end you'll understand the process/device much better and fix it immediately the next time.

Don't be afraid to jump into projects and make mistakes. Just try not to chop off your fingers when you do it.