I’m a mechanic & teaching my motors-mad four-year-old everything I know… he plays with toy cars by taking them apart
A MECHANIC has been teaching his adorable four-year-old son everything he knows – and it turns out the tot is a natural.
Stephen Mc keeney introduced Keelan to the exciting world of cars when he was just two, but the toddler quickly felt at home in the family-run garage.
Now, with help from Stephen of course, the tiny mechanic-in-training can help change a tyre, use wenches and operate car jacks.
Adorable little Keelan helps with work dressed up like his father’s mini me, wearing an orange high vis vest and cute tradie trousers.
The youngster props himself up on the bonnet of cars and holds torches to assist his father, as they spends hours together in the garage.
Keelan even has a tiny tractor he zooms around on all by himself, much to the amazement of fellow car obsessed tots – but he finds more joy in taking it apart than riding it.
Stephen, from Donegal, Ireland, said: “He absolutely loves working on cars and tools. He’s just constantly always looking to get to the car shed.
“I taught Keelan everything but he has picked up on a lot of things himself that have even surprised me.”
The proud dad, 34, noticed his son was fascinated with work happening in their family garage, which services cars and tractors.
Now the pair enjoy bonding over motor repairs and power tools, with Keelan happy to spend “five or six hours” on the tools with his dad.
Stephen added: “He would spend a lot of time in the shed. He would happily play away and you’d have trouble getting him to go home again.
“He would sit there and watch with a good interest in what I’m doing, asking questions about how this worked, how that worked, what certain tools are for.
“I spend a lot of time with him, teaching him how to take things apart properly and screw it back together.
“I’m always there watching over him and helping him with whatever he’s doing to make sure that everything he does is safe.
“Ever since Keelan was two years old he was more interested in how toys work or how they were made. He had most interest in toys that could be disassembled and reassembled.”
The mechanic described his son’s curious fascination with ” screwing everything in the house apart at three years old, from chairs, tables and even screwing the beds apart”.
Meanwhile, Keelan’s toy tractor – a 2021 Christmas present – proved to inspire the tot even more.
He was ” constantly jacking it up with my trolley jack, checking the wheels and studying how it works”, added his dad.
“He asked me if we could make it go faster so I decided to try my Milwaukee power tool battery in it, and it was a great success,” said Stephen.
“It nearly had too much power as it was doing wheelies so we had to put around 5 kg of lead into the front of it to make it safer.”
Stephen is “delighted” to watch Keelan “following in [his] footsteps” as his passion for motors grows.
“I’m sure he’ll either end up a mechanic or a driver of some sort for sure, as he definitely loves doing both,” he added.
“I would class him as very intelligent, definitely for his age. He seems to pick up things very quickly. Now, some of the things would just amaze you.”
