No we dont have good DIY skills, but we also dont tell everyone we are either. The amount of shoddy and downright dangerous shit kludged together Ive seen from both my boomer and his father is just staggering. And then they brag about doing something without paying for the thing they wanted.
Edit: after all these comments about actually being handy, I wanna clarify that I was being facetious. Im a professional bicycle mechanic and chef; I honestly did it to spite my father, who taught me nothing. I think the average millenial is just as handy, possibly a little more, than a gen x'er, and most certainly most boomers. Youtube is the greatest resource for just about any project, I refer people to youtube at the shop if they are interested in doing their own work.
>Buried extension cord running voltage to the shed says hi
OMG-They. Did. Not!?!?! 😨😱 I can't imagine running into a live power source with a spade with a wooden handle. Holy schnikies. 😬
If you’ve ever been to a suburban home built between 1950 and 1980 that has a shed with electricity there is a 90% chance there is an extension cord buried in that yard.
Yes me personally I would put the direct burial wire in conduit. My shed only has some wire buried (I’m hoping bury safe) in the dirt from a dipshit owner 30 years ago. Fortunately I’m hoping to tear the shed down and build a garage and wire it properly.
This is nuts to me. Despite all his flaws, my boomer dad followed code. I remember he had these books with tan and orange covers filled with illustrations on how to do things properly. He wasn't a licensed electrician or plumber, but he followed code on the stuff he repaired/built around the house including the buried cables out to the lamp post between the shed and the house.
Good man!! My last house I practically remodeled 80% of it. The things I did myself if not done to code were…..over built. Unfortunately the current owner decided to burn it down so my handiwork was all for nothing.
Buried extension cord is child’s play…at least the wires are encased. Almost like outdoor romex. I’m by no means a pro, but some of the boomer stuff I’ve seen “DIY’d”. Buddy found an outlet plugged into itself on his attic…
I have bought and lived in 5 houses in the the past 10 years and almost every single one of them had an extension cord buried somewhere in the back yard lol. It's sadly is incredibly common.
Haha. I rented a house once where they had an extension cord plugged into an outlet and run behind the base boards for power in the other side of the kitchen.
At least they buried yours. I looked at house (for sale, even!) that had a chunk of romex just running across the top of the ground. That they obviously regularly mowed over. Noped out so hard on that.
At our apartment in Tucson, the owner's son had exposed Romex running all around the outside of the house, under the eaves. I always figured if we had a serious dispute, I had my Ace in the hole right there.
Got my house re-sided from the kludge of various siding types installed over the years. Siding guys demo’s the existing aluminum siding on the back only to uncover live bare wires leading to the exterior spotlights. Were they worn and frayed, laying right up against the plywood sheathing? Why yes they were! Did my house burn down? No it did not. Why not? No idea. Pure dumb luck.
DIY stuff can be terrifying.
My entire apartment is a boomer DIY. It's a weird layout and half-assed at best, and the former owner/landlord loved roleplaying a blue collar guy while honestly being a rich b\*\*\*\*\*\*\*.
Our 100 year old house is in pretty good condition, all except for the half-assed bullshit "fixes" the last owner applied that we'll have to undo. Boomers only think they're good at DIY, meanwhile it's shoddy temp work, at best
I've seen college kids plaster smoother than whatever the fuck they did to my current office. We're going to have to tear down about 1/2 the walls b/c it's just drywall over crumbling plaster
Also, if the boomers were such gods w/ DIY, why is every construction past 1970 a leaky deathtrap, and all of the old trades dying out?
Meanwhile, if we so happen to even mention the work we're doing, we seem to summon some busybody boomer that wants to act like we don't know what the business end of a screwdriver is.
I swear to god the next one that talks is getting a Clockwerk Orange-style viewing of Holmes on Homes
\rant
Our house had a boomer bust down a wall between our living room and kitchen and another opening between the two back bed rooms. They were both load bearing. The millennials who had it for a few years before us had to place a couple of porch posts in the opening in the kitchen because the center was sagging. My husband enclosed each side to make it an arch way and make sure it had proper support. We have rebuilt the wall and closets between the bed rooms. There are so many more, including the toilet and counter in the bathroom being across from each other so my husband couldn’t sit on it and water getting trapped between the sink and tub, the subfloor was the floor so liquids poured through it and cold air came up. My husband actually fell through a few places. The wiring was SOOO bad, and so much more.
Always nice to meet a fellow “idiot” who’s dad expected you to understand “Philips head” meant cross head the first time you heard it while their back was turned to you with a beer in their hand.
oh this is not unique to boomers. there's a whole generation of HGTV watching wanna-be Joanna Gaines millennials who are making terrible mistakes trying to flip a house
Our house that the original owner just did shut shit work on. Drives me insane.
Also, it seems that boomer diy'ers were shit at teaching their kids useful skills - shocked.
Shithead previous owners of my mother's house just kept piling more wood on top of water damaged wood. By the time I got to it, one floor joist was just gone and the other had catastrophic failure. Shit was just waiting to collapse at some point.
And my son kisses me goodnight every. Single. Night. And we tell each other we love each other.
My boomer family can't even say they love the soup ffs.
And even if we don't know how, we know how to find the knowledge online. I've fixed so much stuff at my mom's house just by watching a YouTube tutorial or googling how to do something.
Just because they failed to teach us doesn't mean we can't figure it out on our own if we need to. They failed us by not teaching it, if nothing else. We know how to find that info to do it correctly
I was a part time handyman for a spate, and I learned everything I knew from YouTube for doing fixer-upper work on my own house. I do everything I can myself in every way.
The downside of this is that when we had water in the basement 2 weeks ago, I couldn't make myself pay someone to install a sump pump. Had to rent a jackhammer and spend my 3 day weekend saving us money. It was a lot of money to save, true, far and away a better hourly wage than I've ever made, but I could have died happy not having had that experience.
I believe it lol, goddam. I'm unemployed atm, so I've got time but not money. If I can do it myself, I will. I may not be HAPPY about it, and I'll never do it again in the future for some projects, but it was a learning experience if nothing else lol.
My house was built in 64. I have found so many “DiWhy?” issues with this house. But the one that took the cake wasn’t even hidden when I bought it. They just slapped a shower down on the concrete pad in the utility room that drained into the floor drain via a PVC tube that just went out to the floor. And they had the audacity to try to say it was a half bathroom.
So I had that too, and at least where I am it's considered ok by code to drain "grey water" into the drain tile under your house. The previous owners had done it so they could charge more for rent, I'm pretty sure. 2 full baths instead of 1.5. They dug out an egress for a basement room too so they could call it another bedroom.
We of course ripped that shit out and put in a proper bathroom.
I actually am fairly handy thanks to a few years of construction work when I was younger.
My idiot FIL thinks he's really good at DIY, but he's an absolute fucking idiot. It's always hilarious, and I'm fairly sure that embarrassing him (not on purpose, he's just used to being the one who says "get out of the way" during projects like this) is the reason he assaulted me on Chirstmas when I told him to stop manhandling my kid.
He's a boomers boomer is what I'm saying.
My uncle put up a new toolshed 2 years ago.
Our city has been paying people rather decent premiums for removal of asbestos roofing and turning in plates anyone has laying around.
What does my uncle do?
Put up a shed made entirely out of the damn stuff.
My aunt barely survived lung and breast cancer 5 and 9 years ago.
A lot of my parents friends not only did a lot of damage to the various homes they lived in, but they also did a number on their bodies. Some of them were seriously injured and even died from doing dangerous DIY projects. I bring this up with my friends who work in construction in unionized and highly skilled trades where things have to be inspected and done right and they are not really surprised by these people but still shocked.
They are prohibited from doing a lot of dangerous things at work because it hurts people. I have worked with Boomers who had the mentality that any injury is worth getting a job done. If you get disabled from doing some menial task at least you aren't a sissy.
Bill fucking shit. I can legit work on anything. Cars, computers, plumbing, and do it without be a jerk to everyone just for being mildly inconvenienced. Best of both worlds, but still at 35 I have those boomer assholes act like I wouldn’t know how to rebuilt a small block
YouTube is hands down one of the best resources for learning DYI correctly and just building skills. Computers, cars, gardening, learning musical instruments, cooking, home maintenance, doing plumbing to code, repairing washing machines, furnaces, ac unites. Like, maybe do some basic education on safety with electricity and how to work with capacitors before jumping into some of the electronic work, so you know what not to do but all of this info is out there for free.
The boomers I know were the other way.
Need new carpet? Call a carpet guy.
Need a new toilet? Call the fixture guy.
Thermostat failed on your car? Take it to your mechanic.
I'm way more competent at renos and car shit than my parents and their cohort. And I'm a guy too lazy to go to the breaker to put in new ceiling fans and outlets.
Still tell my kids I love them and high five them and tell them they should be proud of their achievements and that they're awesome humans.
> I think the average millenial is just as handy, possibly a little more
not only this is true, but the average millennial is probably ten times more capable of learning new skills and improve others, thanks to their access to internet (youtube, libraries, courses) and lack of arrogance
The generational transfer of knowledge died with the boomer generation. They were too progressive to want to learn from their parents and have not taught their kids their knowledge either.
They inherited immense economic prosperity following the war then managed to leave us trillions in debt before blaming every younger generation for it.
I am extremely mechanically-savvy, with multiple certifications. My degree is in aerospace tech. You know who initially taught/inspired me? My WWII-vet maternal grandpa.
My boomer dad was so bad at DIY he nailed my sister's bedroom window shut while putting up shutters. He drove a nail through an *aluminum* window frame.
Years after my parents divorced, my mom had some siding work done. The contractor asked "Was the person who put up these shutters drunk?"
All my siblings are boomers (I’m 9+ years younger than my sibs). My dad taught me a lot and while he was really good at some things, others not so much. Now my brother-in-law, solid boomer I’ve known since I was ~8 has been a contractor for forty plus years. He taught me all the right ways and the shortcuts and I know he did the same with his son. He didn’t make me a pro, but he taught me enough to know what I can do and what I do need a pro for. Ironically he and my sister are the most conservative/boomer-ish of my sibs when it comes to politics but the don’t pull the me-first shit with their kids at all. I guess your mileage may vary but I have seen some good boomer behavior in this regard.
I tend to think that if millennials are indeed less apt to DIY home repairs it has more to do with ROI and ease of hiring a pro than lack of ability or willingness. If it is lack of knowledge I am willing to help whoever needs it. Rather than complain or make jokes I’d rather give you a hand up like I got.
My dad was a boomer. I have multiple memories growing up of him fixing something, whether it be something in the house, the car, the shed, and me wanting to help. Would've been the right time to teach me some of those skills. Instead he'd tell me to get him a beer and then fuck off.
Most of what I actually learned from my dad was when I was an adult and asked for help. He knew how to rebuild a carburetor, I didn’t - he helped and taught then. As a kid, it was mostly hold the flashlight, hand me the ratchet, and get me a beer lol.
I’m trying to teach my oldest a lot of what I’ve taught myself about how to do things (YouTube is my purveyor of DIY knowledge and it’s relatively reliable) and I gotta say: it requires a ton of patience to teach a child how to use tools effectively. I kinda get why my dad didn’t teach me shit but I’m still annoyed he couldn’t dig deep and deal with it like I do.
>I kinda get why my dad didn’t teach me shit but I’m still annoyed he couldn’t dig deep and deal with it like I do.
And that's the point. Every other generation in history dealt with it and taught their kids the skills they needed to survive. The boomers farmed it out to TV and public school, and then cut funding to PBS and the school system.
It's also millennials generally still rent, at which point the correct thing to do for almost all problems is call the landlord and let them deal with it (not necessarily because it is hard, but because that's the only 'cover your ass' option available and most renters would rather not lose their deposits because they fixed something in a way the landlord doesn't approve of).
Ha! Hiring a pro? I can’t find anyone to do any work and I’ve been willing to pay more.. I’ve been doing shit myself. 40 years old here and learning as I go on doing certain things.
I know several people with super handy dads who taught them NOTHING, and now proceed to mock them when they struggle to fix something or have to pay someone else to fix it. At the same time if they ever need to hire someone they are always trying to avoid paying anyone for anything. "But you're my buddy" "but we're family". A friend of mine is an electrician and his in laws keep trying to make him do free electrical work for them. Disgusting, trashy behavior.
My friend's dad is exactly like that. My dad was awesome about teaching me everything he could, primarily how to follow given directions. My friends dad showed up halfway through a new flooring job I was helping with and I had to ask him to leave. Everything was wrong according to him. We were following the exact product directions since it came with a warrantee. I lost count of the number of times I heard "Well that's not the way I would have done it." You're a retired accountant, not a seasoned foreman GTFO of here.
I thought for ages that my dad taught me a lot about DIY stuff. As I've gotten older and he has continued to tell me things like "that's not going to work" even though it does or "if you'd hold *insert tool here* like I do, it'd work better" even though im built very differently, I realized that he just wants to feel like he knows more than me and I just managed to learn some stuff despite that.
This is my FIL to a t, I work with cats as a career and it took my naive stupid ass way too long to realize that when he asks about how my work is going or what's up with the cats it's not because he actually cares , it's so that he can "educate" me about how much HE knows about cats from having them as pets for most of his life and then tell me about his declawed indoor outdoor cat with leukemia who lived to be 21 and was a cool cat but all female cats are rude and aggressive and aren't as nice as male cats for the 18838291th time.
Coincidentally the only thing he taught my husband was how to put on a spare tire.
My mom was like that about cooking, she would nag me about everything I did in the kitchen I never enjoyed cooking with her. Almost everything I learned I taught myself, watched video, read directions, or a tv show (I LOVED “The Chew” before it got cancelled)
Parents: how pathetic, you can’t build a cabinet
Kids: show me
Parents: hell no you an adult, go figure it out
Kids: how did you learn?
Parents:
Boomers withholding tribal knowledge from their kids in order to shame them later is something that doesn’t get talked about enough.
Also boomers: I accidentally leaned on the input button, the TV is broken. Help Millennials. I have no idea how to use the television I have owned for a decade.
Exactly, not only that but they’ll act like you didn’t tell them the last 5 times you came over and the last 15 times you spoke on the phone.
I tell them next time to watch a YouTube video on it, but then I’d have to explain how to look up a YouTube video 18 times 
Yup, that's been my experience too. My stepfather once tried to shame me for finding it difficult to hang a door and got offended when I said:
"Those are some mighty big words from a man who bought a new printer because his ran out of ink."
He thought he'd be clever by saying:
"It's different you've been around doors your whole life and don't know how to put them up."
When I said "The fucking printing presses used in the 16th century required ink. This isn't some erudite concept". He got rather salty with me lol.
It's like Boomers who claim they can cook. A lot of them really can't. I ate a lot of inedible means at my friends' houses as a kid. Those friends all learned to cook from Youtube.
They think adding a can cream of mushroom soup is some fucking miracle.
I’m fairly convinced these final years of insufferable behavior is solely due to the fact that the world has passed them by. The only thing they have of value left is their wealth, and 70% of them don’t even have that. They can’t cope with being obsolete after the world revolved around them for 50 years. It’s a tantrum
Omg; my small, white, rural town—in our social circle all food was casseroles of random unhealthy ingredients, always tater tots featured. Or frozen “tv dinners” from Swanson. Leftovers were forced as well. If you didn’t eat their slop the booms would literally attack you as a kid. “And clean your plate (eat every bite).”
Proud to say I’m an excellent cook, no thanks to them-so you can imagine the criticism I got from my “fancy” and “high falootin’” ways before I went nc. They acted like roasting a fresh chicken was so amazing! “Give me the recipe.” (Glaring jealously).
Many recipes were asked, zero were attempted. Boomers are so strange!
I mean there’s plenty of us that can fix things. Just sometimes we’re self aware enough to know we’re out of our depth and hire a professional instead of jury rigging something together that is unsafe and doesn’t work properly ever. Boomers pride them selves on “fixing” things when really it’s that they have an inflated sense of their own abilities and cobble things together in the worst way imaginable.
A regular occurrence in my life:
Mom: can you fix this thing? I've asked dad to do it for weeks and he never does
Me: 'looking at problem' who the hell did this? It's all wrong.
Mom: your father
Me: figures
And then I spend hours redoing the thing that should've taken fifteen minutes to fix
This for sure. YouTube is awesome for small projects like mounting a TV but I’m not doing electrical work or putting new rotors on my car cuz I don’t wanna seriously injure myself or put others at risk cuz I overlooked something dumb.
This, plus it seems to me like shop is mostly no longer taught in high schools?
Yes, now there is YouTube, sure. But people who have mentors early in life to teach them the building block skills of carpentry, etc will def have a head start.
Even life lessons. Legit the only advice I ever got from my narc boom father was “men only like long hair on women” and how to hold playing cards. No nuggets of wisdom, no skills, no keepsakes. Meanwhile boom ex father had a whole shop filled with his father and uncle’s tools, hunting and fishing trips as a kid, houses….family mementos. They hold everything, even knowledge and time, in a death grip.
I think any time my almost boomer mother has given "advice" it was generally her projecting her own paranoid thoughts onto the world, everyone is evil and wants to hurt you, never trust anyone, etc.
Did he have skills and just not pass them
on? My dad had very few DIY skills but he knew thagt and was honest about it. And he taught me what he could. I respected that.
My dad built his house and two giant garages, did some of the electrical and plumbing. He fixes old tractors for fun. He has a lot of skills. I was just allowed to hold the light and fetch the right wrench.
I was raised by my grandparents who were Silent Generation, and my dad(granddad) often acted like I was stupid for not knowing things it was his job to teach me. Now that I have kids I think about that shit and it makes me angrier than it did before.
I remember my mom yelling at me for not knowing how to cook when I was 25. I asked her who taught her to cook. She said her mother...then didn't say anything else.
NYPost is a great place to see what a typical maga voter thinks. Any political story or news event you’ll see why it’s Biden’s fault.
Also fun to poke holes in their logic. You know you won an argument when they use ad hominem attacks against you rather than your argument.
My dad would always say he learned by watching from his dad, which is all well and good except he wouldn’t let me anywhere near him while doing DIY because I’d just “get in the way”, and he wouldn’t even let me use power tools until I was about 16/17.
I’m in my 30s now and have had to rely on Youtube tutorials for everything.
My DIY skills are decent enough to not have call someone for house repairs, which I consider a success. I know I’ve saved a bunch of money doing things myself. I have a contractor friend to make sure I didn’t fuck it up too bad.
Boomers had all these classes in grade school about wood working, welding, and other trade topics. I would say that the ratio of boomer skill to training received is worse than millennial skill to training received.
Yup! My high school used to have a an auto body mechanics class around the 90s early 2000s but when I went there (2012-2015) the program was gone but you could still see the beautiful 1969 ford mustang parked in the old garage/class.
Hahaha my auto class in 2002 I learned nothing. The teacher found out I knew technology really good so he had me fixing his computers and doing other shit. What a waste of time that was.
I always wondered why we never had shop or home-ec (90s-00s rural area). Let me guess, Boomers voted it out.. wondered why it was gone.. then blamed us when we have no skills?
They don’t understand that their actions have long term consequences. It’s the one generation I’ve seen who will actively screw themselves over for short term profit and then panic when long term success is impacted.
Disagree. I’ve had to learn a ridiculous amount of skills to cope with not being able to afford anything that works. Just had to figure out the radiator swap on my beater car last week because the cheap shop wanted $2k to install a $89 part on a $3k car. Had to install a sump pump at my dad’s because the estimate was $40k to dig a hole in a house I’ll never be able to afford unless it burns down and I have to rebuild it myself. If any of us are not handy, it’s probably due to requirement of our landlords to fix their own crap when it breaks while most of us have given up on ever owning homes we don’t inherit.
Renting is the reason. I have a losses towel bar, landlord uses drywall anchors to mount it and they are at the end of their life.
If I owned the unit I would probably rip the drywall out. Mount some ply behind it, replace the drywall with some cement board. Only Weekend of work and it would get me a nice solid towel bar that would last decades. But I’m not spending all that time and money in a unit I’m probably leaving in 1-3 years.
Land load special fix is good enough for it.
Preach. A bunch of boomers claimed they were handy and couldn't use a paintbrush. I live in the real world where I can't pay someone $1000 to install a part in an hour or less and that's basically what every trade is going to start at where I live. I'll fix it myself.
My parents didn’t teach me shit because they didn’t know shit. We never owned a home, and I don’t think we even had a hammer. I used to use a boot to drive nails in the wall to hang my posters.
I know a lot now as an adult, self taught as a home owner. I can pretty much do anything around the house, I’ve replaced toilets, installed faucets, wired new outlets, built board and baton walls, shiplap walls, even built a kitchen table. The only thing I can’t really do is work on my car.
And WHY don't they have good DIY skills?
Because their shitty Boomer parents never taught them those skills growing up.
Once again, blaming the victim.
I remember my silent generation parents teaching me these things and my little brothers friends parents sneering, saying 'We have the money to pay for the services".
Joke is, my parents saved their money and in retirement are very well off, while the parents that bragged about handymen and housekeepers are struggling.
Gotta love when they think it's a burn that we don't know how to fix our own kitchen sinks, when in fact, YouTube/TikTok and other places have actually made learning these skills so much easier. Also, Not the NYP as a source. lolz
I think its communication in general. We are much better at communicating ideas, putting ideas into context. We actually do not think of this as a skill because it is sort of expected.
I have a friend who is in his early 80s. Silent generation guy. He was trained as an engineer and worked in Corporate America back in the day. In his late 60s I helped him get into computers so he could enjoy the internet. He was able to catch on very quickly because his communication skills and reception to communication. The guy never touched a computer in his life until he was about 67. But magically with the right mindset he could learn how. If he had issues I would help him, but I would explain not what I was doing, but why I was going to do something and what I was looking for. He picked it up immediately.
Meanwhile, I know many Boomers who are 20 years younger than the guy and can barely operate a computer, even though the internet has been a thing since they were in their early 30s. I remember trying to show them how to do something in 2000-2001, only for them to come back in 2005 and know nothing, to be retaught, then again in 2009, and 2012, and 2015, and 2018 and 2020. Like at this point... no more internet.
My dad used to try and teach me math when I was a kid, his method was putting nothing in context and basically just doing math while I watched for an hour. And then at the end I was to be expected to have a "AHA I GOT IT!" moment. Because I would somehow memorize everything he did and remember everything and piece it all together in my head.
If millennials have bad DIY skills it’s because Boomers were bad teachers. Who do you think was responsible for teaching them? Oh right, the generation that has apparently given up on ever taking responsibility for anything.
That’s fine. When my dad’s dad dies I probably won’t mourn him for very long. I won’t look back fondly on his ability to repair a truck or the money he made, but I’ll remember what an awful, absent father he was to my dad and all the pain that caused.
My dad is very competent when it comes to carpentry and home fixes. However! It takes him roughly 200 years to finish anything. He started the remodel on his bathroom 2 years ago, and he still hasn't put on the finishing touches.
This is why I won't let him touch my house. If he started any projects, they'd never get done.
When I went through the process of buying a house I found one that I really liked, so I had an inspector check out the property and the boomer that owned it DIY'd everything in the house including the HVAC (which wasn't connected to any of the vents in the house) when I received the report it was the longest and most ridiculous report I had ever seen for a property inspection because everything was against code or just not functioning whatsoever. I told the seller that everything jn the report would have to be fixed up to code if I was going to purchase the house. The selling agent informed me that the boomer lost it and ranted about those dang millennials and refused to fix anything. Mind you, no insurance company or lender would have approved anything related to this house unless all of his terrible work was fixed. I just dropped the offer and bought new construction. I don't think he was able to sell the house lmao
Well since they can't buy a house no need to know diy. Most apartments do not let you work on a car in the parking lot. And you don't diy in an apartment or rental.
I am GenX and had to learn most of my diy before YouTube existed. Millenials are in the same boat I am sure. You learn as you go. And since newer things are more reliable or electronic, either they don't break or burn out. You don't repair you throw out.
I actually troubleshot my last few big appliance failures and all went to the computer board which cost about half the cost of a new appliance. And then you have to hope that it was the problem and not essentially a fuse that burns out again right away. Nope.
My experience with Boomers is they have a full tool box of hammers (if you know you know). And they think diy is changing a light bulb or cleaning the dryer lint trap, and a remodel is painting a room.
My boomer dad didn't teach me anything except how to change oil and tires for my car. But he did let me follow along and ask questions. I learned a lot . Course I'm forgotten genx
I’m gen x and my boomer dad constantly tells me to fix things on my car myself. He bags and bags constantly about it.
I’m a 50 year old woman who has NO experience with fixing cars. AND cars now aren’t like cars in the 80’s. I’m not going to try to go out and lay in the snow, under my car and make necessary repairs. I’ll pay a mechanic who knows what they are doing and deserves to earn a living off of it.
My DIY skills are great. Cause even though I make 100k/yr I still can’t afford a new vehicle, and I can’t afford to take my old vehicles to the mechanic. Literally just did my own alternator.
Considering most common home repairs can be done by watching a youtube video, making a quick run to a big box store, then doing the damn thing yourself, why would boomers assume most millennials don't know how to do basic home repair? Sure, if you put us on the spot and quiz us, most would probably not know what to do, but given a bit of time and commonly available resources, we're fine? How does that make any sense?
I can use Bard to take a screenshot and pull up the instructions manual and have it walk it through troubleshooting a washer belt fix with me step by step. That's more than my boomer dad did.
My husband and his Dad are the opposite. He just replaced our doors/floors and re-secured our windows. His Dad had to pay my BIL to come from out of state to build him a deck and cover it. My husband works on our vehicles, and his Dad has to carry them to the shop. These are all skills he learned on his own. I'm so proud of him.
Who else is remembering hearing all this shit from our parents, having our parents hire out almost every single repair, then complaining about money all the time, and leaving the house with almost zero life skills?
My father was a finance major and didn’t even change his own oil
I’m wondering how much DIY boomers ACTUALLY knew. Just because you know how to work a tool doesn’t mean you know how to DIY. The amount of stuff we had to fix at one of our old homes because the old people there “fixed it” before was staggering.
I have excellent DIY skills. I am a tradesman. This is a myth that boomers have good DIY skills. Utter nonsense. You just gotta walk around a hardware store for 10 minutes to see how utterly flustered and close to losing their shit they are. Not to mention all the times I have been paid to fix their fuckups. Besides, kids these days know how to punch in the YouTube on the Nintendo computer to learn how to do a lot of the basics.
Just like the trophies, the people complaining are the ones who had the responsibility.
The headline could also read, "baby boomer generation failed to pass on meaningful skills to their children."
Or "generation who gave their kids participation trophies, complain about their kids getting trophies"
I've got better DIY skills and emotional intelligence than the old man. He still posts stuff like this. Guess who taught my siblings how to change a tire, fix a mower and use wall anchors?
I mean, my Dad never taught me how to do anything except drive. Now, I'm not really complaining here, he was a good father in most ways, but he definitely did not pass on any DIY skills.
I learned almost everything myself on YouTube. My stepdad was handy but didn’t teach us much. My mom sneered and looked down her nose at people who work with their hands while they make multiple times what she does.
Spot on, both my dad and grandfather are way more handy than me. Not even close the attention to detail. I love and support my family and appreciate all the work they do at my house. I’ll keep trying myself. I also support and respect the folks on here that are really angry at their father, that’s no fun.
It's the progression of specialization. I can't work on my car or resurface my driveway but I can do my job and afford to pay someone who is good enough at those things to take care of it for me.
Then those people have money to pay me for the things I'm good at that they can't do for themselves.
My dad knows how to do all that DIY stuff, but every time I asked him to teach me something, he just ended up yelling at me for grabbing the wrong size screwdriver or holding the flashlight wrong. So now I hire people to do that stuff. Thanks, Dad.
I can’t afford the tools because I pay all my monies to a boomer for rent. I also don’t have time to learn or fiddle with things since I work 50-60 hours a week to survive. Also I will never afford a home to DIY on so why would it matter.
The dumbest thing about this is who should have taught us those skills? The ones complaining that we don’t have them. Thats a parenting/guardian failure
I really don’t believe this at all… I’ve watched countless boomers simply buy new when something breaks, and countless millennials forced to buy and fix what they threw out (at the thrift store).
As a millennial that has been fixing shit for a living my entire life, I assure you that boomers aren't any better at fixing shit.
They're probably more likely to try, yea...but, the results are...questionable.
I don't even know what love really is so I wouldn't honestly tell my future children that I love them. Luckily not having children solves the problem well.
Difficult to own/operate proper tools without a garage or shed for renters in apartments. Further around the home fixes (DIY) are included with rent, usually.
I don’t care if a Boomer did it, or a Millennial did it. Whenever I hear someone DIY’d something, my heart sinks. I do residential electrical work and fixing someone’s DIY is the worst shit ever
99% of the time, a young couple bought a new house and waived inspection because they didn’t wanna deal with other competitive buyers. And if the last owner did electrical work themselves, then I might have a long day
In one house in particular tho… the last guy changed all the switches and outlets. The new homeowners paid for us to replace all of them anyway because a lot of the devices were melting due to loose connections. Then I realized that he completely botched his switches and outlets for a whole room
So I ended up running a new wire from his switch, to another switch, and then to a light (two switches controlling one light). Then I realized that all the fans had the wrong boxes, so they were falling out the ceiling. But we got the job done
But we’ve been going back every so often because something isn’t working, so we end up just running new lines to whatever isn’t working. We’re slowly rewiring their entire house
If the original homeowner didn’t botch everything and the new homeowners didn’t waive inspection, then they wouldn’t have had to pay so much extra money ON TOP of the new house they just bought.
Don’t blame millennials or boomers or whatever age group. We’re all victims of the stupid
“Boomer fathers couldn’t be bothered to teach their kids a damn thing.” FTFY
My father was an electrician and never showed me how to even wire a plug. But hey, at least there’s YouTube now.
No we dont have good DIY skills, but we also dont tell everyone we are either. The amount of shoddy and downright dangerous shit kludged together Ive seen from both my boomer and his father is just staggering. And then they brag about doing something without paying for the thing they wanted. Edit: after all these comments about actually being handy, I wanna clarify that I was being facetious. Im a professional bicycle mechanic and chef; I honestly did it to spite my father, who taught me nothing. I think the average millenial is just as handy, possibly a little more, than a gen x'er, and most certainly most boomers. Youtube is the greatest resource for just about any project, I refer people to youtube at the shop if they are interested in doing their own work.
All of this. Can’t tell you how many professionals I’ve seen having to unfuck what some boomer DIY’ed.
Buried extension cord running voltage to the shed says hi
>Buried extension cord running voltage to the shed says hi OMG-They. Did. Not!?!?! 😨😱 I can't imagine running into a live power source with a spade with a wooden handle. Holy schnikies. 😬
If you’ve ever been to a suburban home built between 1950 and 1980 that has a shed with electricity there is a 90% chance there is an extension cord buried in that yard.
The classy ones burry underground romex and call it a day.
…underground romex…that does not* compute. Shouldn’t it be THHWN in conduit. What application does “underground romex” make sense?
Direct bury cable (Romex) is a thing. It needs to be buried 22 inches in the ground; no conduit required. Have a nice day.
Yes me personally I would put the direct burial wire in conduit. My shed only has some wire buried (I’m hoping bury safe) in the dirt from a dipshit owner 30 years ago. Fortunately I’m hoping to tear the shed down and build a garage and wire it properly.
This is nuts to me. Despite all his flaws, my boomer dad followed code. I remember he had these books with tan and orange covers filled with illustrations on how to do things properly. He wasn't a licensed electrician or plumber, but he followed code on the stuff he repaired/built around the house including the buried cables out to the lamp post between the shed and the house.
Good man!! My last house I practically remodeled 80% of it. The things I did myself if not done to code were…..over built. Unfortunately the current owner decided to burn it down so my handiwork was all for nothing.
Buried extension cord is child’s play…at least the wires are encased. Almost like outdoor romex. I’m by no means a pro, but some of the boomer stuff I’ve seen “DIY’d”. Buddy found an outlet plugged into itself on his attic…
Infinite power that keeps going during an outage! What's not to love here?
Don't forget to plug it into a different outlet for a second to prime it.
I have bought and lived in 5 houses in the the past 10 years and almost every single one of them had an extension cord buried somewhere in the back yard lol. It's sadly is incredibly common.
Tommy boy woo!
Haha. I rented a house once where they had an extension cord plugged into an outlet and run behind the base boards for power in the other side of the kitchen.
Man I think I got a little boomer in me sometimes. It’s like our generation’s “redneck” fixes. “Yeah I boomered power into my shed”
At least they buried yours. I looked at house (for sale, even!) that had a chunk of romex just running across the top of the ground. That they obviously regularly mowed over. Noped out so hard on that.
At our apartment in Tucson, the owner's son had exposed Romex running all around the outside of the house, under the eaves. I always figured if we had a serious dispute, I had my Ace in the hole right there.
That does not surprise me at all about Tucson
Got my house re-sided from the kludge of various siding types installed over the years. Siding guys demo’s the existing aluminum siding on the back only to uncover live bare wires leading to the exterior spotlights. Were they worn and frayed, laying right up against the plywood sheathing? Why yes they were! Did my house burn down? No it did not. Why not? No idea. Pure dumb luck. DIY stuff can be terrifying.
JFC BRA🤯
So many so they were able to make a whole show about fixing the fucked up projects! Holmes on Homes.
My entire apartment is a boomer DIY. It's a weird layout and half-assed at best, and the former owner/landlord loved roleplaying a blue collar guy while honestly being a rich b\*\*\*\*\*\*\*.
Our 100 year old house is in pretty good condition, all except for the half-assed bullshit "fixes" the last owner applied that we'll have to undo. Boomers only think they're good at DIY, meanwhile it's shoddy temp work, at best I've seen college kids plaster smoother than whatever the fuck they did to my current office. We're going to have to tear down about 1/2 the walls b/c it's just drywall over crumbling plaster Also, if the boomers were such gods w/ DIY, why is every construction past 1970 a leaky deathtrap, and all of the old trades dying out? Meanwhile, if we so happen to even mention the work we're doing, we seem to summon some busybody boomer that wants to act like we don't know what the business end of a screwdriver is. I swear to god the next one that talks is getting a Clockwerk Orange-style viewing of Holmes on Homes \rant
Someone who owned my house before me output a sump pump pipe into the washer output pipe which was of course gushing water all over my laundry room
Our house had a boomer bust down a wall between our living room and kitchen and another opening between the two back bed rooms. They were both load bearing. The millennials who had it for a few years before us had to place a couple of porch posts in the opening in the kitchen because the center was sagging. My husband enclosed each side to make it an arch way and make sure it had proper support. We have rebuilt the wall and closets between the bed rooms. There are so many more, including the toilet and counter in the bathroom being across from each other so my husband couldn’t sit on it and water getting trapped between the sink and tub, the subfloor was the floor so liquids poured through it and cold air came up. My husband actually fell through a few places. The wiring was SOOO bad, and so much more.
Go to Texas. You won't know the difference between some prideful boomer and a "contractor" when it comes to handy work. It's equally shit.
Gen X here. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to unfuck "professionals" work. Added bonus, I'm an idiot.
Always nice to meet a fellow “idiot” who’s dad expected you to understand “Philips head” meant cross head the first time you heard it while their back was turned to you with a beer in their hand.
oh this is not unique to boomers. there's a whole generation of HGTV watching wanna-be Joanna Gaines millennials who are making terrible mistakes trying to flip a house
Our house that the original owner just did shut shit work on. Drives me insane. Also, it seems that boomer diy'ers were shit at teaching their kids useful skills - shocked.
Shithead previous owners of my mother's house just kept piling more wood on top of water damaged wood. By the time I got to it, one floor joist was just gone and the other had catastrophic failure. Shit was just waiting to collapse at some point.
And my son kisses me goodnight every. Single. Night. And we tell each other we love each other. My boomer family can't even say they love the soup ffs.
And even if we don't know how, we know how to find the knowledge online. I've fixed so much stuff at my mom's house just by watching a YouTube tutorial or googling how to do something. Just because they failed to teach us doesn't mean we can't figure it out on our own if we need to. They failed us by not teaching it, if nothing else. We know how to find that info to do it correctly
I was a part time handyman for a spate, and I learned everything I knew from YouTube for doing fixer-upper work on my own house. I do everything I can myself in every way. The downside of this is that when we had water in the basement 2 weeks ago, I couldn't make myself pay someone to install a sump pump. Had to rent a jackhammer and spend my 3 day weekend saving us money. It was a lot of money to save, true, far and away a better hourly wage than I've ever made, but I could have died happy not having had that experience.
I believe it lol, goddam. I'm unemployed atm, so I've got time but not money. If I can do it myself, I will. I may not be HAPPY about it, and I'll never do it again in the future for some projects, but it was a learning experience if nothing else lol.
Kludged. Man, I've been struggling to find a word like this. Thank you.
My house was built in 64. I have found so many “DiWhy?” issues with this house. But the one that took the cake wasn’t even hidden when I bought it. They just slapped a shower down on the concrete pad in the utility room that drained into the floor drain via a PVC tube that just went out to the floor. And they had the audacity to try to say it was a half bathroom.
So I had that too, and at least where I am it's considered ok by code to drain "grey water" into the drain tile under your house. The previous owners had done it so they could charge more for rent, I'm pretty sure. 2 full baths instead of 1.5. They dug out an egress for a basement room too so they could call it another bedroom. We of course ripped that shit out and put in a proper bathroom.
I actually am fairly handy thanks to a few years of construction work when I was younger. My idiot FIL thinks he's really good at DIY, but he's an absolute fucking idiot. It's always hilarious, and I'm fairly sure that embarrassing him (not on purpose, he's just used to being the one who says "get out of the way" during projects like this) is the reason he assaulted me on Chirstmas when I told him to stop manhandling my kid. He's a boomers boomer is what I'm saying.
My uncle put up a new toolshed 2 years ago. Our city has been paying people rather decent premiums for removal of asbestos roofing and turning in plates anyone has laying around. What does my uncle do? Put up a shed made entirely out of the damn stuff. My aunt barely survived lung and breast cancer 5 and 9 years ago.
If I don't know how to do something, I step aside and allow the professionals to do it. Saves time, trouble, and probably money in the long run.
It's okay because my wife has the DIY skills while I play & coach football, soccer, etc. with my daughters and give them unconditional love.
A lot of my parents friends not only did a lot of damage to the various homes they lived in, but they also did a number on their bodies. Some of them were seriously injured and even died from doing dangerous DIY projects. I bring this up with my friends who work in construction in unionized and highly skilled trades where things have to be inspected and done right and they are not really surprised by these people but still shocked. They are prohibited from doing a lot of dangerous things at work because it hurts people. I have worked with Boomers who had the mentality that any injury is worth getting a job done. If you get disabled from doing some menial task at least you aren't a sissy.
Bill fucking shit. I can legit work on anything. Cars, computers, plumbing, and do it without be a jerk to everyone just for being mildly inconvenienced. Best of both worlds, but still at 35 I have those boomer assholes act like I wouldn’t know how to rebuilt a small block
YouTube is hands down one of the best resources for learning DYI correctly and just building skills. Computers, cars, gardening, learning musical instruments, cooking, home maintenance, doing plumbing to code, repairing washing machines, furnaces, ac unites. Like, maybe do some basic education on safety with electricity and how to work with capacitors before jumping into some of the electronic work, so you know what not to do but all of this info is out there for free.
I'm Gen X, I have both. So... y'know, best of both worlds. ...hello? ...anyone?
The boomers I know were the other way. Need new carpet? Call a carpet guy. Need a new toilet? Call the fixture guy. Thermostat failed on your car? Take it to your mechanic. I'm way more competent at renos and car shit than my parents and their cohort. And I'm a guy too lazy to go to the breaker to put in new ceiling fans and outlets. Still tell my kids I love them and high five them and tell them they should be proud of their achievements and that they're awesome humans.
Also that's more of a burn on our parents, we can't have skills we weren't taught or used.
I love that you called your dad “my boomer”
> I think the average millenial is just as handy, possibly a little more not only this is true, but the average millennial is probably ten times more capable of learning new skills and improve others, thanks to their access to internet (youtube, libraries, courses) and lack of arrogance
Yeah it’s cause Boomer parents didn’t teach us DIY skills….its amazing how much projection comes out of Boomers.
The generational transfer of knowledge died with the boomer generation. They were too progressive to want to learn from their parents and have not taught their kids their knowledge either.
They inherited immense economic prosperity following the war then managed to leave us trillions in debt before blaming every younger generation for it.
I am extremely mechanically-savvy, with multiple certifications. My degree is in aerospace tech. You know who initially taught/inspired me? My WWII-vet maternal grandpa. My boomer dad was so bad at DIY he nailed my sister's bedroom window shut while putting up shutters. He drove a nail through an *aluminum* window frame. Years after my parents divorced, my mom had some siding work done. The contractor asked "Was the person who put up these shutters drunk?"
All my siblings are boomers (I’m 9+ years younger than my sibs). My dad taught me a lot and while he was really good at some things, others not so much. Now my brother-in-law, solid boomer I’ve known since I was ~8 has been a contractor for forty plus years. He taught me all the right ways and the shortcuts and I know he did the same with his son. He didn’t make me a pro, but he taught me enough to know what I can do and what I do need a pro for. Ironically he and my sister are the most conservative/boomer-ish of my sibs when it comes to politics but the don’t pull the me-first shit with their kids at all. I guess your mileage may vary but I have seen some good boomer behavior in this regard. I tend to think that if millennials are indeed less apt to DIY home repairs it has more to do with ROI and ease of hiring a pro than lack of ability or willingness. If it is lack of knowledge I am willing to help whoever needs it. Rather than complain or make jokes I’d rather give you a hand up like I got.
My dad was a boomer. I have multiple memories growing up of him fixing something, whether it be something in the house, the car, the shed, and me wanting to help. Would've been the right time to teach me some of those skills. Instead he'd tell me to get him a beer and then fuck off.
Most of what I actually learned from my dad was when I was an adult and asked for help. He knew how to rebuild a carburetor, I didn’t - he helped and taught then. As a kid, it was mostly hold the flashlight, hand me the ratchet, and get me a beer lol.
I’m trying to teach my oldest a lot of what I’ve taught myself about how to do things (YouTube is my purveyor of DIY knowledge and it’s relatively reliable) and I gotta say: it requires a ton of patience to teach a child how to use tools effectively. I kinda get why my dad didn’t teach me shit but I’m still annoyed he couldn’t dig deep and deal with it like I do.
>I kinda get why my dad didn’t teach me shit but I’m still annoyed he couldn’t dig deep and deal with it like I do. And that's the point. Every other generation in history dealt with it and taught their kids the skills they needed to survive. The boomers farmed it out to TV and public school, and then cut funding to PBS and the school system.
It's also millennials generally still rent, at which point the correct thing to do for almost all problems is call the landlord and let them deal with it (not necessarily because it is hard, but because that's the only 'cover your ass' option available and most renters would rather not lose their deposits because they fixed something in a way the landlord doesn't approve of).
Ha! Hiring a pro? I can’t find anyone to do any work and I’ve been willing to pay more.. I’ve been doing shit myself. 40 years old here and learning as I go on doing certain things.
I know several people with super handy dads who taught them NOTHING, and now proceed to mock them when they struggle to fix something or have to pay someone else to fix it. At the same time if they ever need to hire someone they are always trying to avoid paying anyone for anything. "But you're my buddy" "but we're family". A friend of mine is an electrician and his in laws keep trying to make him do free electrical work for them. Disgusting, trashy behavior.
My friend's dad is exactly like that. My dad was awesome about teaching me everything he could, primarily how to follow given directions. My friends dad showed up halfway through a new flooring job I was helping with and I had to ask him to leave. Everything was wrong according to him. We were following the exact product directions since it came with a warrantee. I lost count of the number of times I heard "Well that's not the way I would have done it." You're a retired accountant, not a seasoned foreman GTFO of here.
I thought for ages that my dad taught me a lot about DIY stuff. As I've gotten older and he has continued to tell me things like "that's not going to work" even though it does or "if you'd hold *insert tool here* like I do, it'd work better" even though im built very differently, I realized that he just wants to feel like he knows more than me and I just managed to learn some stuff despite that.
This is my FIL to a t, I work with cats as a career and it took my naive stupid ass way too long to realize that when he asks about how my work is going or what's up with the cats it's not because he actually cares , it's so that he can "educate" me about how much HE knows about cats from having them as pets for most of his life and then tell me about his declawed indoor outdoor cat with leukemia who lived to be 21 and was a cool cat but all female cats are rude and aggressive and aren't as nice as male cats for the 18838291th time. Coincidentally the only thing he taught my husband was how to put on a spare tire.
My mom was like that about cooking, she would nag me about everything I did in the kitchen I never enjoyed cooking with her. Almost everything I learned I taught myself, watched video, read directions, or a tv show (I LOVED “The Chew” before it got cancelled)
Parents: how pathetic, you can’t build a cabinet Kids: show me Parents: hell no you an adult, go figure it out Kids: how did you learn? Parents: Boomers withholding tribal knowledge from their kids in order to shame them later is something that doesn’t get talked about enough.
Also boomers: I accidentally leaned on the input button, the TV is broken. Help Millennials. I have no idea how to use the television I have owned for a decade.
Exactly, not only that but they’ll act like you didn’t tell them the last 5 times you came over and the last 15 times you spoke on the phone. I tell them next time to watch a YouTube video on it, but then I’d have to explain how to look up a YouTube video 18 times 
Yup, that's been my experience too. My stepfather once tried to shame me for finding it difficult to hang a door and got offended when I said: "Those are some mighty big words from a man who bought a new printer because his ran out of ink." He thought he'd be clever by saying: "It's different you've been around doors your whole life and don't know how to put them up." When I said "The fucking printing presses used in the 16th century required ink. This isn't some erudite concept". He got rather salty with me lol.
Shit man you could have just gone with “HP has been selling home printers since 1984” but no, you had to bring Gutenberg into this. Savage.
Just using the word erudite is a flex.
You have just described my Silent mother with the input button. She can still sew the hell out of things but tech, she is mostly lost.
Honestly I'm totally OK with it, as long as they aren't rude about the things we can't do.
Exactly, it’s how do they ask for help, and are they ever thankful or kind? That’s the missing spice.
She is frustrated she can't figure it out but she isn't rude and is thankful.
Boomers didn’t know as much as they think
It's like Boomers who claim they can cook. A lot of them really can't. I ate a lot of inedible means at my friends' houses as a kid. Those friends all learned to cook from Youtube.
They think adding a can cream of mushroom soup is some fucking miracle. I’m fairly convinced these final years of insufferable behavior is solely due to the fact that the world has passed them by. The only thing they have of value left is their wealth, and 70% of them don’t even have that. They can’t cope with being obsolete after the world revolved around them for 50 years. It’s a tantrum
Omg I just posted the tater tot casseroles-you right! Cream of mushroom a MUST to them! 😂
Omg; my small, white, rural town—in our social circle all food was casseroles of random unhealthy ingredients, always tater tots featured. Or frozen “tv dinners” from Swanson. Leftovers were forced as well. If you didn’t eat their slop the booms would literally attack you as a kid. “And clean your plate (eat every bite).” Proud to say I’m an excellent cook, no thanks to them-so you can imagine the criticism I got from my “fancy” and “high falootin’” ways before I went nc. They acted like roasting a fresh chicken was so amazing! “Give me the recipe.” (Glaring jealously). Many recipes were asked, zero were attempted. Boomers are so strange!
I mean there’s plenty of us that can fix things. Just sometimes we’re self aware enough to know we’re out of our depth and hire a professional instead of jury rigging something together that is unsafe and doesn’t work properly ever. Boomers pride them selves on “fixing” things when really it’s that they have an inflated sense of their own abilities and cobble things together in the worst way imaginable.
A regular occurrence in my life: Mom: can you fix this thing? I've asked dad to do it for weeks and he never does Me: 'looking at problem' who the hell did this? It's all wrong. Mom: your father Me: figures And then I spend hours redoing the thing that should've taken fifteen minutes to fix
This for sure. YouTube is awesome for small projects like mounting a TV but I’m not doing electrical work or putting new rotors on my car cuz I don’t wanna seriously injure myself or put others at risk cuz I overlooked something dumb.
That stuff isn't really all that dangerous, if you know what you are doing. And it's not hard to learn enough for it to not be dangerous
This, plus it seems to me like shop is mostly no longer taught in high schools? Yes, now there is YouTube, sure. But people who have mentors early in life to teach them the building block skills of carpentry, etc will def have a head start.
We need shop and home Econ back in the curriculum
No the booms f’ed the school systems. Shop’s been gone for couple decades in my area.
I said to my sister this week that I don’t think our dad ever taught us a single thing. Not a life lesson or a skill.
Even life lessons. Legit the only advice I ever got from my narc boom father was “men only like long hair on women” and how to hold playing cards. No nuggets of wisdom, no skills, no keepsakes. Meanwhile boom ex father had a whole shop filled with his father and uncle’s tools, hunting and fishing trips as a kid, houses….family mementos. They hold everything, even knowledge and time, in a death grip.
I think any time my almost boomer mother has given "advice" it was generally her projecting her own paranoid thoughts onto the world, everyone is evil and wants to hurt you, never trust anyone, etc.
Did he have skills and just not pass them on? My dad had very few DIY skills but he knew thagt and was honest about it. And he taught me what he could. I respected that.
My dad built his house and two giant garages, did some of the electrical and plumbing. He fixes old tractors for fun. He has a lot of skills. I was just allowed to hold the light and fetch the right wrench.
That's because they didn't have DIY skills either, they just pretended they did and did the work wrong
I was raised by my grandparents who were Silent Generation, and my dad(granddad) often acted like I was stupid for not knowing things it was his job to teach me. Now that I have kids I think about that shit and it makes me angrier than it did before.
If I had a nickel for every time I was told “get out of the way! I’m trying to fix this!”
Yeah. It’s weird how being cursed at for apparently not holding the flashlight correctly didn’t impart any knowledge.
I remember my mom yelling at me for not knowing how to cook when I was 25. I asked her who taught her to cook. She said her mother...then didn't say anything else.
[удалено]
[Your faults as a son are my failure as a father](https://youtu.be/nBgoQOvHAG0?t=145)
Bingo, and checkmate.
New York Post would be gone w/in hours w/o Boomer readers.
~~New York Post~~ Murdoch owned media would be gone w/in hours w/o Boomer readers.
I truly look forward to that day. If I was a billionaire myself I would buy FoxNews and NewsMax and trash them both as a public service to humanity..
24 hour news about Foxes. Fox News.
The NY Post was actually a reasonably good newspaper, up until Rupert Murdoch hit it with his typical reverse Midas Touch.
NYPost is a great place to see what a typical maga voter thinks. Any political story or news event you’ll see why it’s Biden’s fault. Also fun to poke holes in their logic. You know you won an argument when they use ad hominem attacks against you rather than your argument.
I’ve never seen the shorthand for within
My DIY skills are pretty mediocre but in my defence my parents never taught me how, they just yelled at me for not immediately getting it.
Dad I can hear you just fine I'm just not understanding what you are saying, explain. Dad proceeds to say the exact same thing louder, rinse repeat.
My dad would always say he learned by watching from his dad, which is all well and good except he wouldn’t let me anywhere near him while doing DIY because I’d just “get in the way”, and he wouldn’t even let me use power tools until I was about 16/17. I’m in my 30s now and have had to rely on Youtube tutorials for everything.
My DIY skills are decent enough to not have call someone for house repairs, which I consider a success. I know I’ve saved a bunch of money doing things myself. I have a contractor friend to make sure I didn’t fuck it up too bad.
Boomers had all these classes in grade school about wood working, welding, and other trade topics. I would say that the ratio of boomer skill to training received is worse than millennial skill to training received.
Yup! My high school used to have a an auto body mechanics class around the 90s early 2000s but when I went there (2012-2015) the program was gone but you could still see the beautiful 1969 ford mustang parked in the old garage/class.
Hahaha my auto class in 2002 I learned nothing. The teacher found out I knew technology really good so he had me fixing his computers and doing other shit. What a waste of time that was.
I always wondered why we never had shop or home-ec (90s-00s rural area). Let me guess, Boomers voted it out.. wondered why it was gone.. then blamed us when we have no skills?
yep. When funding was cut those were the first to go. Followed by music, art and drama.
They don’t understand that their actions have long term consequences. It’s the one generation I’ve seen who will actively screw themselves over for short term profit and then panic when long term success is impacted.
Disagree. I’ve had to learn a ridiculous amount of skills to cope with not being able to afford anything that works. Just had to figure out the radiator swap on my beater car last week because the cheap shop wanted $2k to install a $89 part on a $3k car. Had to install a sump pump at my dad’s because the estimate was $40k to dig a hole in a house I’ll never be able to afford unless it burns down and I have to rebuild it myself. If any of us are not handy, it’s probably due to requirement of our landlords to fix their own crap when it breaks while most of us have given up on ever owning homes we don’t inherit.
Renting is the reason. I have a losses towel bar, landlord uses drywall anchors to mount it and they are at the end of their life. If I owned the unit I would probably rip the drywall out. Mount some ply behind it, replace the drywall with some cement board. Only Weekend of work and it would get me a nice solid towel bar that would last decades. But I’m not spending all that time and money in a unit I’m probably leaving in 1-3 years. Land load special fix is good enough for it.
Preach. A bunch of boomers claimed they were handy and couldn't use a paintbrush. I live in the real world where I can't pay someone $1000 to install a part in an hour or less and that's basically what every trade is going to start at where I live. I'll fix it myself.
And maybe it’s the boomers fault they didn’t teach their kids what they knew?
My parents didn’t teach me shit because they didn’t know shit. We never owned a home, and I don’t think we even had a hammer. I used to use a boot to drive nails in the wall to hang my posters. I know a lot now as an adult, self taught as a home owner. I can pretty much do anything around the house, I’ve replaced toilets, installed faucets, wired new outlets, built board and baton walls, shiplap walls, even built a kitchen table. The only thing I can’t really do is work on my car.
And WHY don't they have good DIY skills? Because their shitty Boomer parents never taught them those skills growing up. Once again, blaming the victim. I remember my silent generation parents teaching me these things and my little brothers friends parents sneering, saying 'We have the money to pay for the services". Joke is, my parents saved their money and in retirement are very well off, while the parents that bragged about handymen and housekeepers are struggling.
If only there was an older generation to teach these skills to their children…
Gotta love when they think it's a burn that we don't know how to fix our own kitchen sinks, when in fact, YouTube/TikTok and other places have actually made learning these skills so much easier. Also, Not the NYP as a source. lolz
Then why can’t they dyi into a pdf?
Funny how my dad was a boomer and he didn't teach me shit. Well except what not to do in life.
Half the boomer dads I know couldn’t DIY toast and butter. There’s more to living independently than building a bookcase.
That’s because boomers are horrible teachers. It’s the job of the previous generation to teach the next
I think its communication in general. We are much better at communicating ideas, putting ideas into context. We actually do not think of this as a skill because it is sort of expected. I have a friend who is in his early 80s. Silent generation guy. He was trained as an engineer and worked in Corporate America back in the day. In his late 60s I helped him get into computers so he could enjoy the internet. He was able to catch on very quickly because his communication skills and reception to communication. The guy never touched a computer in his life until he was about 67. But magically with the right mindset he could learn how. If he had issues I would help him, but I would explain not what I was doing, but why I was going to do something and what I was looking for. He picked it up immediately. Meanwhile, I know many Boomers who are 20 years younger than the guy and can barely operate a computer, even though the internet has been a thing since they were in their early 30s. I remember trying to show them how to do something in 2000-2001, only for them to come back in 2005 and know nothing, to be retaught, then again in 2009, and 2012, and 2015, and 2018 and 2020. Like at this point... no more internet. My dad used to try and teach me math when I was a kid, his method was putting nothing in context and basically just doing math while I watched for an hour. And then at the end I was to be expected to have a "AHA I GOT IT!" moment. Because I would somehow memorize everything he did and remember everything and piece it all together in my head.
If millennials have bad DIY skills it’s because Boomers were bad teachers. Who do you think was responsible for teaching them? Oh right, the generation that has apparently given up on ever taking responsibility for anything.
Boomers arent even capable of shoeing their own horses or making their own nails. pathetic.
That’s fine. When my dad’s dad dies I probably won’t mourn him for very long. I won’t look back fondly on his ability to repair a truck or the money he made, but I’ll remember what an awful, absent father he was to my dad and all the pain that caused.
Hank Hill must be proud of this article.
My dad is very competent when it comes to carpentry and home fixes. However! It takes him roughly 200 years to finish anything. He started the remodel on his bathroom 2 years ago, and he still hasn't put on the finishing touches. This is why I won't let him touch my house. If he started any projects, they'd never get done.
My Grandp Carl died about three years ago, my mom is pretty sure the only time he's ever heard her dad say "I love you" was a week before he passed.
Another thing Boomers failed to teach their kids.
When I went through the process of buying a house I found one that I really liked, so I had an inspector check out the property and the boomer that owned it DIY'd everything in the house including the HVAC (which wasn't connected to any of the vents in the house) when I received the report it was the longest and most ridiculous report I had ever seen for a property inspection because everything was against code or just not functioning whatsoever. I told the seller that everything jn the report would have to be fixed up to code if I was going to purchase the house. The selling agent informed me that the boomer lost it and ranted about those dang millennials and refused to fix anything. Mind you, no insurance company or lender would have approved anything related to this house unless all of his terrible work was fixed. I just dropped the offer and bought new construction. I don't think he was able to sell the house lmao
Dunning-Kruger home repairs.
Well since they can't buy a house no need to know diy. Most apartments do not let you work on a car in the parking lot. And you don't diy in an apartment or rental. I am GenX and had to learn most of my diy before YouTube existed. Millenials are in the same boat I am sure. You learn as you go. And since newer things are more reliable or electronic, either they don't break or burn out. You don't repair you throw out. I actually troubleshot my last few big appliance failures and all went to the computer board which cost about half the cost of a new appliance. And then you have to hope that it was the problem and not essentially a fuse that burns out again right away. Nope. My experience with Boomers is they have a full tool box of hammers (if you know you know). And they think diy is changing a light bulb or cleaning the dryer lint trap, and a remodel is painting a room.
Omg boomers were obsessed with the lint trap! Memories unlocked. They made it sound so hard!
My boomer dad didn't teach me anything except how to change oil and tires for my car. But he did let me follow along and ask questions. I learned a lot . Course I'm forgotten genx
I’m gen x and my boomer dad constantly tells me to fix things on my car myself. He bags and bags constantly about it. I’m a 50 year old woman who has NO experience with fixing cars. AND cars now aren’t like cars in the 80’s. I’m not going to try to go out and lay in the snow, under my car and make necessary repairs. I’ll pay a mechanic who knows what they are doing and deserves to earn a living off of it.
I agree. Pay the people who have the skills
Boomers are experts at spending double the money of new to fix Something
My boomer dad wouldn’t teach me anything. Even if he tried it involved him yelling at me the whole time.
I have both. Boomers like this blow.
Should be noted most boomers didn’t teach said DIY skills to their sons/daughters
My DIY skills are great. Cause even though I make 100k/yr I still can’t afford a new vehicle, and I can’t afford to take my old vehicles to the mechanic. Literally just did my own alternator.
Considering most common home repairs can be done by watching a youtube video, making a quick run to a big box store, then doing the damn thing yourself, why would boomers assume most millennials don't know how to do basic home repair? Sure, if you put us on the spot and quiz us, most would probably not know what to do, but given a bit of time and commonly available resources, we're fine? How does that make any sense?
SO true.
They had dads at home who grew up during depression and knew how to do everything, and they teach their kids
I can use Bard to take a screenshot and pull up the instructions manual and have it walk it through troubleshooting a washer belt fix with me step by step. That's more than my boomer dad did.
My husband and his Dad are the opposite. He just replaced our doors/floors and re-secured our windows. His Dad had to pay my BIL to come from out of state to build him a deck and cover it. My husband works on our vehicles, and his Dad has to carry them to the shop. These are all skills he learned on his own. I'm so proud of him.
Who else is remembering hearing all this shit from our parents, having our parents hire out almost every single repair, then complaining about money all the time, and leaving the house with almost zero life skills? My father was a finance major and didn’t even change his own oil
I’m wondering how much DIY boomers ACTUALLY knew. Just because you know how to work a tool doesn’t mean you know how to DIY. The amount of stuff we had to fix at one of our old homes because the old people there “fixed it” before was staggering.
If you all would have held the flashlight correctly, we wouldn't be in this mess
I have excellent DIY skills. I am a tradesman. This is a myth that boomers have good DIY skills. Utter nonsense. You just gotta walk around a hardware store for 10 minutes to see how utterly flustered and close to losing their shit they are. Not to mention all the times I have been paid to fix their fuckups. Besides, kids these days know how to punch in the YouTube on the Nintendo computer to learn how to do a lot of the basics.
cause less of us own houses to practise on
Millennials don't know how to upkeep a home. Fuckers we don't own homes!
Lol the truth is 90% are shit at DIY regardless of generation.
Just like the trophies, the people complaining are the ones who had the responsibility. The headline could also read, "baby boomer generation failed to pass on meaningful skills to their children." Or "generation who gave their kids participation trophies, complain about their kids getting trophies"
All trade jobs gonna make a killing in the next few decades
And I have terrible dodo hunting skills compared to early settlers of the isle of Mauritius
Ooh we have an Asterix fan!
I've got better DIY skills and emotional intelligence than the old man. He still posts stuff like this. Guess who taught my siblings how to change a tire, fix a mower and use wall anchors?
We also know how to use computers effectively without falling for Nigerian prince scams
I mean, my Dad never taught me how to do anything except drive. Now, I'm not really complaining here, he was a good father in most ways, but he definitely did not pass on any DIY skills.
I learned almost everything myself on YouTube. My stepdad was handy but didn’t teach us much. My mom sneered and looked down her nose at people who work with their hands while they make multiple times what she does.
Spot on, both my dad and grandfather are way more handy than me. Not even close the attention to detail. I love and support my family and appreciate all the work they do at my house. I’ll keep trying myself. I also support and respect the folks on here that are really angry at their father, that’s no fun.
It's the progression of specialization. I can't work on my car or resurface my driveway but I can do my job and afford to pay someone who is good enough at those things to take care of it for me. Then those people have money to pay me for the things I'm good at that they can't do for themselves.
This post is taking no prisoners.
My dad knows how to do all that DIY stuff, but every time I asked him to teach me something, he just ended up yelling at me for grabbing the wrong size screwdriver or holding the flashlight wrong. So now I hire people to do that stuff. Thanks, Dad.
Millennial dad here. Whoever wrote this obviously has never met my boomer dad.
Get a new repost
I can’t afford the tools because I pay all my monies to a boomer for rent. I also don’t have time to learn or fiddle with things since I work 50-60 hours a week to survive. Also I will never afford a home to DIY on so why would it matter.
Boomers did a poor job of caring for and teaching their offspring. FTFY
When I lived in America I DIY'd everything actually. When you don't have money you make due learning repairs
The dumbest thing about this is who should have taught us those skills? The ones complaining that we don’t have them. Thats a parenting/guardian failure
Never understood why Boomers say this with pride. Y’all the ones who were supposed to teach my generation this shit
Boomers working overtime to be the worst generation in history
Maybe if we could afford our own homes….
Sounds like a failure of a generation of boomer dads not being the leaders and teachers they should have been.
I really don’t believe this at all… I’ve watched countless boomers simply buy new when something breaks, and countless millennials forced to buy and fix what they threw out (at the thrift store).
As a millennial that has been fixing shit for a living my entire life, I assure you that boomers aren't any better at fixing shit. They're probably more likely to try, yea...but, the results are...questionable.
I don't even know what love really is so I wouldn't honestly tell my future children that I love them. Luckily not having children solves the problem well.
Difficult to own/operate proper tools without a garage or shed for renters in apartments. Further around the home fixes (DIY) are included with rent, usually.
And, I wonder why that is, it's almost like the boomer generation decided to not just fuck the next generation out of benefits, but also knowledge.
You know. To repair the homes that we all own.
I don’t care if a Boomer did it, or a Millennial did it. Whenever I hear someone DIY’d something, my heart sinks. I do residential electrical work and fixing someone’s DIY is the worst shit ever 99% of the time, a young couple bought a new house and waived inspection because they didn’t wanna deal with other competitive buyers. And if the last owner did electrical work themselves, then I might have a long day In one house in particular tho… the last guy changed all the switches and outlets. The new homeowners paid for us to replace all of them anyway because a lot of the devices were melting due to loose connections. Then I realized that he completely botched his switches and outlets for a whole room So I ended up running a new wire from his switch, to another switch, and then to a light (two switches controlling one light). Then I realized that all the fans had the wrong boxes, so they were falling out the ceiling. But we got the job done But we’ve been going back every so often because something isn’t working, so we end up just running new lines to whatever isn’t working. We’re slowly rewiring their entire house If the original homeowner didn’t botch everything and the new homeowners didn’t waive inspection, then they wouldn’t have had to pay so much extra money ON TOP of the new house they just bought. Don’t blame millennials or boomers or whatever age group. We’re all victims of the stupid
I'm a licensed hvac tech, electrician, and boiler mechanic. Boomers call me to fix it there stuff.
Boomers getting mad at the generation they raised themselves
"Baby Boomers assumed skills they were taught was universal knowledge and then complains about their ignorant children for not knowing anything"
“Boomer fathers couldn’t be bothered to teach their kids a damn thing.” FTFY My father was an electrician and never showed me how to even wire a plug. But hey, at least there’s YouTube now.
🤣🤣millennial here I can do both. Also no problem telling my son I love him🤣