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If your ‘precious’ child can’t be an ‘ordinary’ mechanic, whose child should?

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As a kid, Dave loved nothing more than to take things apart and fix same back — some successfully — others, not so much.

The consensus was that he was born with the spirit of both an engineer and a mechanic, passionately seeking control of his tiny, delicate soul.

Before Dave turned sixteen, he was already fixing his father’s car, starting with the complex timing belt replacement process — rather than the relatively simpler engine oil changing routine (almost) all DIYers start with.

Dave made his choice: he wanted to be an ASE-certified Master Mechanic, running his own garage, playing with cars, and having the time of his life.

Dad and Mom would have none of it!

“What would the neighbors say?” Mom chipped in, near tears. “My son an ordinary mechanic?”

Dad followed, with almost military rigidity.

“I should have known nothing good will ever come out of your fondness for cars!”

The man was thoroughly angry. “How can an intelligent chap like you wind up a mere mechanic?”

With tears welling up in his eyes, Dave gave it one last shot…

“Mom, Dad, I intend to become an ASE-certified MASTER TECHNICIAN, not an ‘ordinary’ or ‘common’ mechanic as you call it. And, I intend to own and work in my own garage, on my own terms!”

The lad was near tears — but his parent’s will prevailed; reluctantly, he opted for Computer Science — a distant, non related discipline.

How Success and Failure Are Formed in Childhood

If you cast your mind back to your childhood (by this, I mean before the age money, society, and ‘prestige’ consciousness had registered), you’ll notice that we were all united by one thing…

…we all knew what we wanted to be, when we grew up.

And then, we were united by some more…

…by a strange stroke of naturally occurring coincidence, we have all (save a select few) fallen by the way of what we initially wanted and bent to the whims of parents, society, and importantly, the so-called ‘status’ and ‘prestige’.

This art of compromise does not seem like much, given that it is what happens all the time, is happening at the moment and will likely continue happening to the end of time.

However, when looked at carefully, the career paths chosen as kids, often casually and without much thought, clearly tell an interesting: a story of love, passion and great admiration.

This, curiously, is the foundation of a truly great career and interestingly, one that differs dramatically from the everyday average pay-check-to-pay-check reality almost everyone today seems to be a fan of.

No one sums it up better:

The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking, don’t settle.

― Steve Jobs

It is thus correct to say — without any form of prejudice — that the seeds of future career success are formed right in childhood, and for a child that has theirs denied for whatever reason, they already have potential failure to contend with, amongst the other numerous challenges looming over their tiny, juvenile heads in the classic Sword of Damocles fashion.

You May Be a Victim Too

The sad, sorry fact?

As a parent, you’re likely to have faced same, at some point in your career choices growing up.

Somehow, you may have managed to make more money and garner better prestige than the option you had initially wanted offers.

However, what you did not get — and CANNOT get — is the happiness and inner joy that springs out alive when you get engaged with your work, and the overall satisfaction your work and life offer you.

Because of this, you cannot truly offer genius level contributions to your work and must do with the sad, sorry monetary contributions and false prestige, offered as bribe to let your original dream die.

It is particularly sad to note that, if you had taken up your initial dream job and passionately contributed your quota, you would have made even more money, got better fame and even attracted more prestige than the bribe-offer you were forced to settle for.

If the flux of folks who are leaving their corporate-world-jobs today to pursue their true passion (after many years of ignoring or denying it) is anything to go by, then, we all have a challenge of monumental proportion on our hands — a challenge that may have made you as a parent, a victim too.

Do not let your child suffer a sad, sorry, fate.

Wrap Up

Yes, your precious child is destined for greater things in life and cannot be a ‘mere’ mechanic…never mind that we all rely on these ‘mere’ mechanics to move safely in our cars, and your child, the precious one, was already taking apart things and putting them back successfully — and unsuccessfully by age six.

Understood and clear.

The problem now is that every other parent also has special and precious kids — kids that also CAN’T be ‘ordinary’ mechanics!

The net results?

Thermostat removing and parts-throwing dimwits will fix your car— the car you’ll need to drop off that precious and important child of yours at the airport to study some fancy, HIGHLY irrelevant course in a far away, exotic-sounding place that is all fluff and no base.

This *Kazeem, it is very important to also note, will also fix the vehicle you drive daily or are driven in…the one its catastrophic failure means your certain death — or at least, grievous bodily harm.

If you have not got anything from this story, let that SINK in — DEEPLY — if not for anything, at least, for your own good, and the good of that precious child of yours.

Or, if you’ve been very productive, the whole special lot of yours.

*Kazeem is a local word, used in my native Nigeria to denote a roadside mechanic who damages vehicles and causes more harm to cars in the name of fixing.