familypursuits.com

My father taught me, when I was a child, to dismantle machines carefully, putting every screw back as soon as possible, and keeping everything else laid out in order. He showed me how to make little sketches to remind me of how to put everything back together again.

Repairing my sewing machine as a family pursuit? You must be joking! It’s far to expensive to let my kids near it!

I don’t blame you for thinking twice about it! However think about this possibility if you have several children of different ages. The eldest is smug because she is the only one who is allowed to align the needle and adjust the timing. She has reason to be smug, because she started her “apprenticeship” in the same place as the youngest child.

Have you ever looked underneath where you do the sewing? There is a shuttle covered with a thin film of oil, and dust that collects in that oil. It really is quite messy, and if it gets too bad, sooner or later your machine will stop working properly.

So what does your five-year-old have to learn to clean the sewing machine?

1. How to open the machine
2. how to prevent the machine smashing when it tips over
3. which things need cleaning and which ones don’t
4. which things should be oiled, and which things must never be oiled
5. how to do the cleaning and oiling
6. how to lift the machine back into place
7. how to fasten the machine closed again

If you are standing there to make sure that the machine doesn’t crash to the table or floor there is nothing there that could cause any damage to your valuable machine, and junior will have learned that machines aren’t some kind of magic beyond understanding.

Tony has written a book now that explains exactly how to do each job, in the simplest and safest way. It is so simple that junior could probably do everything, but that would remove the challenge of one day being good enough to do what your oldest child is privilleged to do.