I really don't appreciate this quality about myself, but it'd be pure lies to say I could simply begin to complete any sort of car maintenance solo past, like, checking the air pressure in my tires. And even then, I'm far too proud of myself for literally clamping a machine into a valve and having digital numbers spell out everything I need to do next. I'm no Mona Lisa Vito, either, sadly. But these little girls fixing cars are already showing major promise as future, fully awesome mechanics.
I took jazz dance lessons circa second grade, sticking hard and fast to my stereotypical gender-specific extracurricular activity and interests. It's not like my parents strong-armed me into it (or anything, for that matter—they supported me exactly the same in seventh grade when I wanted to sign up for kickboxing classes). There was one boy in my class. I can't remember his name but I wanna say it's Jonathan, even though that isn't important. Anyway, Jonathan danced his ass off and tried just as hard as the rest of us in our little Minnie Mouse spandex recital costumes (his was more akin to Mickey). Even then I found that sort of shattering of gender stereotypes refreshing, and made a friendship with Jonathan so lasting that 20 years later I still don't know for sure if that's his true name. Regardless, Jonathan was and hopefully still is one smart little dude.
Now there are some young girls pushing the gender-ization envelope hard in the opposite direction. These little girls are fixing cars and suggesting one day the mechanic garage will no longer just be a boys' club.
This young girl is just five and as far as I can tell, 100% unafraid of getting her hands dirty. Look at the way she tears up these Jeep guts! I call them guts because I have no idea what's happening but I do know I am impressed! Here are 3 other little girls who are owning car maintenance:
This tough chickadee
Girl's straight jacked. Sorry, I had to make that joke. But her upper body strength at such a tiny stature is super promising—not to mention that drive. She's grunting with effort but not losing focus, looking around for a pile of snacks or whatever (perhaps what also doomed me early on with dance and literally every other extracurricular save writing).
This enthusiastic bb
This one makes me a bit more nervous since at one point she is literally stabbing with wild abandon. And her stabbing instrument is not, like...a wooden spoon or something blunt and less harmful. It's a freaking screwdriver. Welp, she's interested, at least. She can hone the whole finesse thing later on.
This content busy bee
She looks genuinely challenged and fulfilled by the car work. It's pretty inspiring. All this is at least inspiring me to consider watching a few how-to YouTube videos to better understand my car. If these young girls can do it, surely this old one can? ...Right?
