My dad and grand-dad ran a garage. I hung out at the garage trying to soak up everything I could, even though I had a reputation as a bookworm when I was away from the shop. My brother, his firstborn, broke Dad's heart every day. He stayed as far as he could from the garage, and even at one point told friends he was "ashamed" that his dad had to get his hands dirty to make a living.
My son has tried to do things in the garage with me, but he's not well suited for it. I appreciate the fact that he's tried, but I'm not going to make a big issue of it. [Did I mention he's now 33?] My daughter was actually more mechanically inclined, but she really didn't want to learn all of it...and I didn't feel like the garage was the place for her, either.
Let your kids be who they are. Offer them the opportunity to help, but don't expect a 13-year-old to be anything other than...a 13-year old. Looking back, when I was that age, I was still figuring out who I really was, and I'd bet he is too.
After high school, I went to college. But I was drawn back to the garage, because it was where I felt most comfortable. I spent a lot of the past 40 years in the parts business, and my dad was my best friend in the world. We'd sit up late at night, and talk about anything and everything. And even on the stuff where we disagreed, Dad respected my opinions and let me explain my thoughts without sarcasm or ridicule.
Dad passed away over 20 years ago, and I miss him every day. He didn't expect me to be him...and he didn't expect me to be LIKE him. And because of that, I turned to be more like him than either of us expected.
I suspect that, once you and your son have a little room for some perspective, things will improve between you. UNLESS you insist on trying to mold him into you...then you'll end up driving him away. He'll resent that you don't respect him for being himself, and I'm pretty sure that you'll resent him for resisting your molding and shaping. Teaching him to love mechanical stuff like old tractors isn't like teaching him right from wrong. It's a whole different sort of values, and if he doesn't care for things mechanical, it's NOT a character flaw.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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