I’m sure if you are the parent of a teenage boy, you can understand where I am coming from.
- It seems impossible to get my son to think about anything that doesn’t have to do with sports or making money.
I am trying to get him to focus on getting good grades and going on to college after graduation, but all he does is think about going to work after he finished high school. Since that is the case, I reached out to my brother. MY brother supervises the HVAC mechanics for the city; I asked him if there was anything he could do for me to help me convince my son that college is the best route to take. My brother knows that the heating and cooling techs have to work holidays, in the middle of the night sometimes, and long hours in general. Also, the HVAC guys have to climb up into attics that are 120 degrees and crawl under houses where there are snakes and all kinds of disgusting stuff. My brother is going to get my son a part-time job working with the HVAC crew so he can see how hard it is to deal with the heating and cooling problems that arise. I know the guys go home tired and sore more often than not, and I’m pretty sure a lot of them wish they would have gone to college so they could sit in an office with a/c and heating and be comfortable while they put in their forty hours. We will see if working with the HVAC crew makes my son appreciate his opportunities more or if it just makes him more convinced that he prefers to work with his hands.