Today’s youth are growing up in the age of computers and media. Our children are more educated and more intellectual than ever before. However, even with all that education, common sense and basic life skills can fall by the wayside. Few kids in America learn many of the basic life skills necessary to function in society. Here are a few tips on how to communicate the basics of car maintenance to today’s younger generation.
Stress the Importance.. With a Little Bit of Fear
Kids need to know how important basic vehicle maintenance is. We all know how devastating having our only form of transportation out of commission is, but teen drivers only care about getting as far away from the house as possible. Having a vehicle serviced every 3000 miles is essential, but to a teen it is nothing more than an unwanted hassle. Make sure they know that they’ll never make it to another movie again if their car is smoking on the side of the road, and see if they take a little more care.
The Bait and Switch
Want your teen to know how to all the basic maintenance themselves but can’t keep their attention for more than five minutes? When it comes time for some maintenance, offer to do it yourself for free, only if they’ll help. Use that opportunity to teach them one on one, hands on. Get their hands dirty. Teens are much more likely to retain those skills if they have to do it themselves.
Make it Last a Lifetime
Teens need to know the importance of planning for basic auto repair services once they get out of the house. If they don’t comprehend it, they’ll more than likely come crying every time they have a problem. The average vehicle repair costed around $400 in 2014. It is important that they keep some money put aside for needed, unexpected auto repair services. Try and instill this by helping them understand the consequences of losing their form of transportation.
Odds are your kids aren’t going to be terribly interested in classic car restoration, auto collision services, auto detailing, or auto collision solutions. They won’t care that fixing a serious issue, such as a faulty oxygen sensor, can improve mileage by 40%. They won’t even care that keeping their vehicle properly tuned improves gas mileage by 4%. However, if you’re able to instill the value of basic auto repair services, they’ll be miles ahead of many other children in their generation. Use these tips to help protect your kids from mistakes later in life.
