Anyone's kids help detail?

K

kevmo327

New member
My 3 y/o always wants to come out and help da da but unfortunatley her idea of helping is to pick up rocks and sand and dump them in my wash bucket (thank God I saw this before I started washing!) so now I give her and old MF and a pail of her own and let her detail her big wheel...my 12 y/o is the opposite, he is at that age where he hides when he knows there is labor invloved
 
Yes, my 8 year old frequently help me with washing, drying,

and QD.

Horrendous technique, though - probably cause more swirls

and marring - but we always have fun. :D

Once, I even let her polish with my PC (only at level 2, though,

and I had one hand holding on to the end of the PC lest she

lost hold of the PC - I did crank it up to 6 for a minute to get

both of us a good laugh).



Of course, generally after 20 minutes, she is more interested in the bucket of dirty soapy water and the various MF's and will play with them until I am done.
 
I remember when I was a kid, my sister picked up a rock and started rubbing it on the side view mirror of my dad's '81 Subaru stationwagon because she thought it was a sponge :o



I took over the responsibility of washing the cars when I was about 11 or 12... in fact, I remember asking my dad to buy some Colorcote 2000 from an infomercial a long time ago for our silver Benz along with some other products like Durashine and some weird stuff that came with its own white rectangular applicator sponge that left a weird coating on the paint, I forget what it's called though. Of course, none of these products ever worked as advertised :angry
 
My 16 yr old helps me out on occasions.....He wont even accept any $. Great kid I tell ya.....Kind of a mano y mano thing i guess.....I always end up treating him one way or another....My 13 yr old would rather be puking in the toilet than helpin his 'ol man......lol
 
Here is my 10 yr old at the Porsche Orange Coast Concours:

Picture%20001.jpg


We won Best of Show :D



In fact both my kids help prep the car and attend the events with me. There getting pretty good!

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I like to get both of my boy involved with the cars. They are 6 and nine. I usually have them do the windows and all of the interior/exterior plastic and vinyl. They feel like they have accomplished something. Its just one more way to spend time together.
 
I envy those of you who answered yes, I have a 14 yo stepson who on the 1st detail I actually did, I asked for his help and well, let's say that I got tired of pointing out areas that he had missed vaccuming so I sent him to do my wife's Element and again it turned out a bad experience...anyway the answer is NO MO....:D
 
When my son's help me I don't expect them to do a perfect job. I want them to help me so that I can teach them how to do a job to the best of their ability. If the job they do isn't up to my standards I help them or I just redo it without them knowing that I re-did it. Trust me, you can tell when a 6 year old does the windows and the dash!:)

I look at the time we spend to gether as a way for me to teach them how to do a quality job and its a way for us to spend quality time together. It also lets them look at the car, see that its clean and take pride in their work.

Please don't take this the wrong way. My kids don't do a great job on my cars either. Two years ago I had a job (Military) with insane overtime. I was working about 100 hours a week. It made me realize that spending time with my kids and trying to make it a positive experience for all of us should be a very high priority if not my highest priority.

Thanks for listening to my long winded speach:)
 
Sullybob said:
When my son's help me I don't expect them to do a perfect job. I want them to help me so that I can teach them how to do a job to the best of their ability. If the job they do isn't up to my standards I help them or I just redo it without them knowing that I re-did it. Trust me, you can tell when a 6 year old does the windows and the dash!:)

I look at the time we spend to gether as a way for me to teach them how to do a quality job and its a way for us to spend quality time together. It also lets them look at the car, see that its clean and take pride in their work.

Please don't take this the wrong way. My kids don't do a great job on my cars either. Two years ago I had a job (Military) with insane overtime. I was working about 100 hours a week. It made me realize that spending time with my kids and trying to make it a positive experience for all of us should be a very high priority if not my highest priority.

Thanks for listening to my long winded speach:)
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Believe me that in response to your statement, I think I do spend quality time with my step kid doing things that he has interests in, but detailing is something you have to like to do and or want to learn and not have it be a chore, again I envy you... :xyxthumbs
 
im 18 and have been in charge of the family car washing duties since i was probably 14 or 15. heck i wash my friends cars for them
 
I've taken care of my mom's car since...well...it was brand new. This is about when I was 10 or 11. Of course this summer I haven't had a whole lot of time to do it--but I'll get to it. Actually, tomorrow it will be here (brakes need to be done this weekend) so maybe I'll do it then.



My dad got a new car every other year so I didn't bother. Plus they're always silver and I prefered to work on black. Gosh I was a brat....



I think my dad is happy because it's a '96 and in good shape, so my mom doesn't look for a new car. ;)
 
No kids, but I am a kid:p Eh, I do remember washing my moms bug when I was about 5 (last year we actually drove the bug:( ) Also remember washing my dads omni glh-s which we sold about 8 years ago;)
 
My 10 yo son always takes care of the rims on my cars and also takes care of the leather interior on my TA. He does a better job inside my TA than I do and he can fit in and out of the back seat much easier than I can.
 
I usually have them do the windows and all of the interior/exterior plastic and vinyl.
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:up



One quick note, though. I probably will want them to stay

away from the windshield if you have the wipers in the up

position. Couple years ago, my then 6-year old was helping

me while the wipers were up. She somehow tripped one

of them and it came down really hard on the windshield.

I found a long crack the next morning (I believe it was

the cause of the crack). I was $1200 poorer for the

experience. :(
 
Here a few shots of my kid helping me out. He does a real good job but doesn't really have much passion for it. He just wants to make some money and learn how to take care of whatever vehicle he gets.



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1099chris_waxing_accord.jpg




1099chris_buffing.jpg
 
My 9-yo son helps on occasion. Actually he offers to help all the time. He used to just get me wet but now he helps with lower body panels, tires and wheels. I still let him wet down the car and rinse although I have to go over what he did. He's learning. We have fun cleaning the cars we have.
 
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