I would say that most of it is still there, they just don't get involved, bicycles used to be a starting point for boys, skateboards, lawnmowers, computers, building or constructing things that they wanted, fixing things that they already own, if they aren't doing those things anymore, then it is something else.
No one is asking them to fix the microwave or the computer on the car, but nobody asked boomers to do those things either, they just expected us to replace our own bicycle chain, and change a tire.
Yeah, forgot bicycles- an excellent learning device.
The big change for youngsters today is that electronic devices do not have discrete components but microprocessors and computers.
No tubes to take to the tester at the drugstore, no capacitors and resistors to check with a meter.
For my grandparents nearly everything was home-repairable, for Boomers most things were, for my grandchildren only some things are repairable. So I sympathize with someone today assuming ‘we have to replace it’, though I regret they are not assuming they “can do”.
There was a local church that had a VBS that attracted over 100 kids and many boys.
All the men of the church took the VBS week off and offered carpentry, engine repair snowmobiles, dirt bikes etc. and the like courses.
Great men of God reaching out to the local boys and
One of my early prototypes was when I turned my bicycle into a chopper. I used a hacksaw to saw the front forks off of my sisters bike. The hacksaw was one of my earliest and mostly used tools (it was my fathers, really). I turned my football helmet into a “quarterbacks” helmet by cutting of the excess face caging. Nowadays, of course, my go-to is the Sawsall, which I affectionately refer to as the Solves-all.