Just like a girl

January

After blogging repeatedly on the need for boys to become self-sufficient, I found myself in an uncomfortable mess last night: My car started blowing out black smoke and I had no idea what to do.

When I was in junior high, the division between the sexes was clear. Girls took home economics and boys took shop. I’m not sure my high school offered a class in auto mechanics, but if it did, girls were not invited or expected to attend.

This does not excuse my ridiculous lack of knowledge when it comes to cars.

I do know how to pump gas, and I know it’s important to get the oil changed fairly often. If the tire pressure is low, that’s also not a good thing.

But beyond that, I am pretty helpless. What sort of example am I setting when I insist my sons be familiar with cooking, laundry and cleaning, but invest little or no time in making sure my daughter (and I) are comfortable with what used to be considered a male thing?

Okay, so you’re wondering what I did with the car, right?

Sorry to admit I called my husband in California, who agreed with me that the car had overheated. Nobody had bothered to check the water or antifreeze (nobody, meaning me), so I guess that led to the smoke situation.

I left the car in the parking lot outside a nearby supermarket and got a ride home.

Tonight I plan to deal with the car. I hope it hasn’t been towed away…

But really, this whole situation raises an issue I’ve long neglected: How do we make sure our daughters are self-sufficient in all the areas traditionally overseen by men?

Any suggestions?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 3:36 pm by Linda Lombroso.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print | Email

3 Responses to “Just like a girl”

Steve C. January 26th, 2010 at 8:38 am
The best investment you can ever make: AAA plus.
For the few times I needed them it clearly paid for itself.
Linda Lombroso January 26th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Steve—I have AAA plus!! But I didn’t want to use up a call for this. We ended up driving the car home the next day and then taking it to the mechanic. I think there’s a crack in there somewhere, causing it to overheat. I need a crash course in auto mechanics, absolutely.
Steve C. January 27th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
that is not a wasted call. thats exactly why they are there. it isnt like it runs out or anything
next time call. if it was a crack better to have it towed then you drive it and it goes BOOM.

It is a condition of your use of the comment features associated with the blogs that you do not: Use the site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law. You alone are responsible for the material you post or send. Refer to the Terms of Service.