So I think it's unlikely that I'm the only father of young children on these boards. I have a 3 year old son, a daughter on the way, and my wife and I are also foster parents so I'm sure there will be plenty more young children in the house in the future.

In addition to wrenching, I also like wood working, so my garage is full of tools and materials that are quite dangerous for little ones to be around. Of course I do my best to keep things clean and organized, but that doesn't mean there's no trouble to be found should a kiddo have a moment to discover it.

NOTE: I'm not complaining here - just describing situations I find myself in and hoping for an exchange of ideas.

When possible, I try to involve my son in whatever it is that I'm doing (because he's always interested in what I'm doing anyway - even in the bathroom ). But, there are also times when I actually NEED to get work done but I'm also having to watch my son while doing so, and that usually doesn't make for productive time. I'm usually concerned with what he's doing and checking on him about every 10 seconds, and as many parents know, if you can't hear your child, there's probably a not-so-good reason why.

If the weather is decent I'll let him ride his bicycle in the driveway. He also likes sidewalk chalk. One of his favorite things to do is take my cordless drill and "fix" everything (I make sure there's no bits in it, and his fixes are usually jamming the chuck in the dirt and letting it spin forever). I'll give him wood scraps or my tape measure too.

But the bottom line is, it's hard to keep him busy enough for me to not worry about if he's going to hurt himself (or run into the street or throw rocks in the yard or try to ride the dog like a horse). And not that I'm overly concerned about injuries either - he's a kid, and even in a "safe" play environment, kids find ways to get hurt. I talk to him a lot about being safe in the garage but that doesn't mean he knows everything about how to be safe, so constant attention is a necessity.

So I'm just wondering what ideas others might have. I look forward to spending more time in the garage with him when he's older, I'm just trying to figure out how to make the most of it now as well.

 

IMO you just can't divide your time with kid that age. I have seen mothers trying to outrun the kid that got ahead of them on the way to the intersection. No misfortune but some moments of terror. With tools and other materials around, a kid will plug a wire into an outlet, unscrew something, taste the paint, fall off something. I did, while my dad was trying to get work done on the farm, or sometimes right in front of them. My kids would head for the stairs, run towards the road, climb, it's endless because their curiosity is endless and they have no fear. Yet.

It's a hard pill to swallow but, again, IMO, you just can't divide attention with the kind of work you are talking about and a toddler.

That time goes by fast enough, enjoy it.

Of course you can yell at them and swat them every time they disobey, but there goes your plan for the kid working with you later.

 

I don't think it's an impossible task, which is why I posted about it. I'm not trying to force garage time to happen when I'm watching my son, but it's also about getting him out of the house. In general, we are a very chill family and one of our favorite things to do is watch movies, so we spend plenty of time doing non-garage related activities.

I was an accident prone kid as well (the family farm was part of that too). By the time I was 3 years old, I'd literally cracked my skull twice and had a broken ankle, so he's already much better off than I was.

 

Currently my 2 year old digs thru the nut driver drawer and tries to remove the pedals on the pedal tractor. We have some caterpillar dump truck, skid loader, and front end loader toys that you can take apart with a plastic screw driver. I am trying to get him interested in them. I really don't want him to start taking things apart. A few weeks ago he tried to drill a hole in the gas tank on my motorcycle, luckily the wife saw him and stopped him we were all outside together.

I take him out to the garage and have him hand me tools to put away. This works great when he just is not happy with what is going on in the house. Right now we can't play outside. We had some flooding about a month ago and now you can't be outside because the mosquitos are so bad. I put the trash out wearing a hooded sweatshirt yesterday when it was 92 and 100% humidity just to try ans not get carried away. Low tonight is 42 so I hope it is better tomorrow.

 

"Terrible twos". Still a great age, I used to have my son shift the Econoline from his booster seat. We still laugh about that. I still think you can't really divide your attention, but as you prove, there are plenty of things you can do which engage the child with you, the tools or whatever.

Hey, treating mosquito bites is a "time together" activity. We have the nastier versions moving into So Cal, here comes dengue fever....that'll get the family together!