Construction worker kids tend to grow up on construction sites, learning the trades, and working alongside their families. They are pushed to do more than construction in the future. Jokes like: “teaching my kid what not to do. Making them not like it.” Construction kids usually learn a lot of different skills, that are useful in everyday life from how to measure, to putting a cabinet handle back on. They even learn the correct names of power tools. I have always been one of these kids. I remember times like rolling around on the floor carts with a neighbor while my mom works on carpeting Kangaroo Zoo, and learning how to cut boards with a power saw. I can tell you the difference between a jigsaw power tool, and a table saw. I know exactly what you mean when you ask for a Philips screwdriver. If a handle comes off I know exactly how to put it back on, and I can take the doors on and off most cabinets. (Believe me, it’s harder than you think.)
I’ve always been curious about how I would have developed if my parents hadn’t been construction workers, and even with research I can’t really find anything. Anything I find doesn’t sound accurate, so I’m curious as to what construction workers they’re talking about. I could see anything they say from the perspective of owners, and the bosses. Construction Workers U.S.A. by Herbert A Applebaum says in reference to job pride “the other is their encouragement to their children to enter the industry.” I haven’t heard that once from the workers I’ve been around. I do believe if that I had not grown up in the family I did, though, I wouldn’t have all the different skills I have. I believe I’m probably more capable with tools and more accurate with measurement than the average teenager. I’m also very driven for my life. I’m not sure I would be without construction.
Tools of the Trade by Whitlee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.