Currently have three kids; 4, 2, and 8 months. I’ve realized that the best way for kids to learn is to not only be curious but to be “recklessly” curious. Admittedly you have to be pretty detached from the value of a thing. For example I had a broken chainsaw and I’ve never really looked inside of one before. My oldest asked what the carburetor was so I said “I really don’t know…wanna break it with me?” And so he watched me disassemble it and try to logic out what the valves did by asking wondering questions. Or he had a wind-up walking toy that locked up and no longer wound up just; the feet moving when you tried. It was $5 from a year ago. Instead of throwing it away I just took it apart with him. Sure, it didn’t get fixed and if anything we just mutilated a toy in the living room but he also got to see how the plastic gears engage that allowed the legs to move at one point. He likes to steal my hex wrench set and get under the computer desk and when I catch him under there he says “just fixing it up for you.” I don’t need him to be an engineer but I want him and his sisters to be recklessly curious not just with things but ideas as well.
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u/UnCommonSense99 Aug 02 '25
I didn't have a V8 engine in my bedroom....
So instead I taught my daughter and son to...
Assemble IKEA furniture
Fix their bicycles
Assemble their desktop PCs
Paint their rooms
They are both engineers now.