Training the next generation

Brandon1986 · December 27, 2015, 08:57:59 PM

Got my 6 year old workin with me finally. I hope to teach him how to work and do something while he is young so he won't be like the rest of the lazy kids I see these days, and know how to do things for himself

http://youtu.be/ejk4ddNvwPw

I know this is a little dangerous with the mill being unguarded, but he was a couple feet from the blade and I had him guarded close

http://youtu.be/7HBFGSpDOFU

http://youtu.be/64YZ3UHvb1s

Magicman · December 27, 2015, 09:34:06 PM

When my Son Marty was about 8 years old I started giving him tools for Christmas. From then on, he might not know which one it would be, but he knew that it would be a tool. They are never too young to learn the value of work.

longtime lurker · December 28, 2015, 03:30:27 AM

Yanno... I feel torn about this.

Part of me wishes one of ours was interested... seems at times that I'm building something for what? It'd be nice if there was someone to pass it on to later, so I could be the old guy kicking back on the docker, telling tall stories and generally getting underfoot.

But a bigger part says thank god none of them are... Says a lot about the industry but I can't see more then a limited future due to rising costs and cheaper imports.

teaching them to work is one of the greatest skills you can give them!

4x4American · December 28, 2015, 08:06:48 AM

Always good to see them start out young!

LL- I think oppositely about it. I think that in the future, the folks doing blue collar work are going to be gettig paid more than white collar jobs because there is going to be more demand for it. Might be awhile but seems like we're going to have enough computer workers that the trade jobs will be in high demand. How many kids nowadays know how to build, weld, fix equipment, take care of livestock, etc.

Brandon1986 · December 28, 2015, 10:11:37 AM

Him knowing a trade is secondary to him knowing how to work to me. I am nearly 30 and am a fifth generation logger on dads side and 4th on my mother side, but logging and firewood processing is a side job for me and milling a hobby. My real job is law enforcement, that being said I work with men my age that wern't made to work when they were young. They don't know how to get after a job and get it done effeciantly now, and they are poor problem solvers, and I blame not working somewhere as a young child.

dboyt · December 28, 2015, 12:13:49 PM

smiley_clapping
Problems will change, but the attitudes and skills for solving them stay with you your whole life. Hopefully there will be a resurgence of people with mechanical skills.

Chuck White · December 28, 2015, 01:21:35 PM

I'd much prefer that kids today learn a skill (trade) rather than poking at keys on the keyboard.

I've got grandkids that don't want to get interested in anything other than computers.

I've got other grandkids that are interested in learning some of the practical things in life.

It's really agrivating to see a kid on the keyboard from the time they get up, until it's time to go to bed and most times, the rest of the household has been in bed for hours!

I don't like to see what appears to be lazy kids, even though they may grow up to make bigger money than their peers!

Brandon; I think you're doing good, but just be careful!

Ianab · December 28, 2015, 02:50:57 PM

QuoteI'd much prefer that kids today learn a skill (trade) rather than poking at keys on the keyboard.

Seen the computer systems that runs a modern sawmill and the downstream processing? And that goes right through to the house plans and building. The custom wall and roof truss designs get emailed to the prefabrication shop and the design loaded into the chop saw via a USB drive. The workers can see the plan on the screen and assemble the kitset pieces as the chop saw produces them.

Tried to fix a modern car?

Driven a modern tractor or heavy machinery?

Doesn't matter what "trade" they are going into, they are going to be using computers in some way.

Kbeitz · December 28, 2015, 03:05:59 PM

if we ever get a BIG solar flair this world will shut down....

SawyerBrown · December 28, 2015, 04:24:25 PM

Quote from: Kbeitz on December 28, 2015, 03:05:59 PM
if we ever get a BIG solar flair this world will shut down....

If we ever get a REALLY BIG solar flare, we're all going to be crispy critters, and nobody will be using computers!

My daughter didn't end up in a skilled trades job, but her FIL told me one time that he was impressed that she knew a socket from a crescent wrench, and how to use both. Good that kids have at least a few mechanical skills!

longtime lurker · December 28, 2015, 04:30:36 PM

Quote from: Ianab on December 28, 2015, 02:50:57 PM
QuoteI'd much prefer that kids today learn a skill (trade) rather than poking at keys on the keyboard.

Seen the computer systems that runs a modern sawmill and the downstream processing? And that goes right through to the house plans and building. The custom wall and roof truss designs get emailed to the prefabrication shop and the design loaded into the chop saw via a USB drive. The workers can see the plan on the screen and assemble the kitset pieces as the chop saw produces them.

Tried to fix a modern car?

Driven a modern tractor or heavy machinery?

Doesn't matter what "trade" they are going into, they are going to be using computers in some way.

THIS!!!

My kids can all work. They might avoid the menial stuff if they can, but it ain't like they haven't done it before or couldn't do it again... Everything from broom pushing to primary breakdown... I'd employ them as skilled not juniors.

But none of them are interested in the business. If they were I'd be assessing quad reducers vs canters with a view to the next ten years...and there's no room for MK 1 eyeball assessment when you start putting through whole logs at one every 25 seconds... I read up on the stuff behind that equipment in terms of how the optimization parameters are set between the scanner and the reducer and I don't understand much of it. I am email, excel and Google compatible... But a man got put on the moon with less computer input then it takes to run a modern saw line.

dean herring · December 28, 2015, 08:49:17 PM

We gave our 7 year old grandson a 20 volt cordless drill, some bits,star bits a couple of boxes of screws. My momma gave him a hand saw, he trimmed crepe myrtles all day .
He has his own nail apron and hammer and knows how to use his tools.He has to put them back when he is finished or he don't get them next time.
He does a pretty good job driving the tractor but he can't reach the clutch and stay in the seat.
Guess he will have to ride with papaw for awhile longer.

justallan1 · December 28, 2015, 09:06:15 PM

I call these videos, "Parenting done right".
I feel that whether your son stays in milling or not doesn't change the fact that you are teaching him bunches of other things as well, whether you intended to or not.
Simple mechanics, the importance of preventative maintenance, using chains ropes and cables correctly, problem solving, tolerance (that one log that's just a PITA) and a huge one, hands on a piece of equipment and getting the feel of things.
I know of many grown men that don't have the skill to pull a lever only part way and feel your way into something. The sad part is that they probably never will either.

park ranger · December 29, 2015, 02:00:28 AM

That is a great start for a kid. My son started fixing old dirt bikes (never got him one that ran) and welding up go-carts. Then to all kinds of welding and machine shop work with programming master cam run mills. He's 23 and can get a job anywhere. He came home for Christmas and glued up a surf board made from cotton wood I milled. Just a bunch of fun!