Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

[ajkjk]

This didn't address my favorite theory: that (some) kids are programmed to learn as much as they can about the nearby megafauna, and in this world the closest approximation is these big garbage/fire/construction vehicles.

[isolli]

There's also a similar theory to explain why boys are more interested in cars than girls (which my kids have proven convincingly, albeit with a low sample size): boys, as future hunters, are attracted to preys that move, hence, in the modern environment, to balls and cars.

[goto11]

Such evolutionary just-so stories can be used to explain anything and there is no way to falsify them. However, just applying common sense: Wouldn't it be more beneficial for their survival if kids were programmed to stay away from megafauna? It might eat them or step on them.

[meddlepal]

I still think big construction and demolition equipment is cool as an adult.

[nix0n]

They get close to that theory, but from a zoo animal angle as opposed to local animals.

"Add that to the fact that children frequently conceive of a vehicle as an enormous living creature—“It has lights and those look like eyes, so suddenly it’s got a face,” Toubes pointed out—and it’s almost no wonder that some kids look at garbage trucks like gigantic zoo animals visiting their home."

[audiometry]

Would explain why most young kids go through a dinosaur phase too!

[alperakgun]

yeah me & my son we have spent 3 years chasing garbage trucks, contruction vehicles and fairy tale giants, & dinosaurs. finally minecraft took over.

[anonytrary]

I have a different theory, but it's mostly a cheeky, incomplete one. I think infants start out not understanding conservation[0,1] and there is some programmed primitive instruction in humans to understand conservation. It would explain why modern physics exists, and would also explain why kids are obsessed with garbage trucks -- because where the hell does trash actually go? One you understand conservation enough to ask that question, it is inevitable to be obsessed with garbage trucks.

[0] https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Conser...

[1] Things that do not grow or shrink change over time, even if they're redistributed.

[otabdeveloper4]

> kids are programmed

No, kids aren't computers.

It's an easy and facile analogy, because we work with computers all day, and are intimately familiar with them. That's precisely why the analogy is wrong.

[salex89]

This is fun. I grew up on the other side of the world (albeit a "western" culture), and was also amazed by garbage trucks from the day I remember. The whole lift/squash mechanism, their bright orange color (in our parts), the ease by which they lift the containers, the colored control lights/buttons on the side which the cleaners use to operate the lift, the blinkers. And made funny noises. It was something straight out of the toy shop, in full size! I wanted to be a waste collector when I grow up. My parents were keen to make fun of me because of that once I enrolled in PhD studies.

Same goes for fire trucks, I had multiple fire engine toys. But a fire truck is a rare thing to see in action in person, so I guess that's why it was easier to relate to the loud trashcan on wheels :-) .

[krisoft]

I'm a full grown adult and I'm working on self-driving cars. For a special project we had to put amber flashing lights on one. Just like the ones they had on garbage trucks where I have grown up. Totally unreasonably, but I was giddy with excitement when I first turned the lights on. That was probably the closest I will ever get to my childhood dream of becoming a garbage truck driver.

[neuronic]

It's a bit unnerving how much this resembles my own experience. Never got that PhD though, stuck with a Masters :)

[AndrewOMartin]

To add my pet theory, it's a attractive to kids because it's an immediately understandable job. "Pick up all the rubbish, put it in the truck, press the button, move on". You can imagine a kid watching the whole routine and feeling like they understand every part of it, the wider context and the minutiae.

The classic "what do you want to be when you grow up" responses (Firefighter, Police, Doctor, Chef, etc.) all have that property of being immediately relatable.

[ghostbrainalpha]

That theory does a great job explaining why so many kids say "Astronaut" and so few say "Actuary".

[Corrado]

I actually wanted to be a garbage truck driver when I was little. I think it was the power to crush stuff that really stirred my imagination. The smell never really bothered me much and I figured that you would get used to it anyway. The dirty never bother me much either; I was constantly playing in our neighbors backyard that we called the dirt-hole. Yup, garbage man was almost the perfect job.

Instead, my love for computers (ahhh, VIC-20) grew and I went to college to learn more. I really love what I do but if things went sideways I could see myself being a garbage man.

[zwp]

I did this job for a couple of months over a summer when I was in college, (via a temping agency). I did actually kind of enjoy it. The sweet smell of putrefaction from the truck made me retch for the first week and then became kind of homely. Brutally early starts (4am?) but done and home by midday. My crew ran everywhere. They teased me for wearing gloves (broken glass, nappies, tampons... I'll take the teasing, thanks).

Pay for regular employees was okay, by which I mean it was not as bad as you might expect (and considerably more for the driver, for an easier job). There was notable attention from the public, somewhere between condescending and touching, who perhaps didn't know that: the old lady who saved me a pair of jeans ("These were my son's, and I noticed yours are ripped"); the old guy that wanted us to come in for coffee; free lunch from an independent fast food place on Wednesdays.

The size of the operation marked me: the number of 14-ton capacity trucks snorting at the depot at dawn, the scale of the dump, the size of the crane fingers. The amount of garbage. Houses. Businesses. Farms.

Winter months and middle age would probably make the job less attractive but it certainly wasn't a dreadful experience.

[Scarblac]

I've been thinking about being a garbage man (not the truck driver) for one day a week.

Physical work, outside, and it seems your mind could subconsciously work on the big problems in the rest of your life while doing it.

[otr]

You could have been both: https://dilbert.com/strip/1998-11-21

[Waterluvian]

In the words of my two year old, "woah! It's so big!"

I've learned not to over-analyze and trust what he says.

[remmargorp64]

You'll notice that kids don't get as excited about other things that are just as big, or bigger, though. For example, my son can barely even be bothered to look up at 18 wheelers. He sees them as common and boring.

But a garbage truck? It's loud and interesting. It does stuff with its tusks. Honestly, garbage trucks are still fascinating even to me, as an adult.

[empath75]

I took my 2 year old to the safari at animal kingdom and said: "Hey, there's a hippo!" and he said: "Wow, look how big that _rock_ is!" Kids don't know what's unusual to see at age 2.

[meigwilym]

Time to post one of my favourite internet images:

https://hips.hearstapps.com/cos.h-cdn.co/assets/15/13/980x11...

[Pigo]

That just made my day.

[wanderr]

I thought that getting to ride on the outside of a vehicle was the coolest thing ever.

[Pigo]

I hadn't thought about this since I was a kid, but I loved watching the garbage truck. Especially when they used the compactor after emptying the cans. I guess I was lucky that they came to our house during the day because everywhere I've lived since a kid the trash pickup has been extremely early. I don't know if my kids have ever seen it.

[dbancajas]

now I remember why I liked it as a kid. Hanging on to the back of the truck is super cool. I grew up in 3rd world country where adults can hang up in Public Utility transports and it was seen as cool. Parents obv don't allow you to do it since its dangerous so I thought it's cool if your job gets to ride at the back of a truck.

[pwm]

Haha same! :) Very interesting how common this experience seems to be.

[jimkri]

When I was younger I wanted to be a garbage man too. I always made sure to be outside when they came by and made sure I was wearing my little work boots. My nephew is really into them right now and loves being outside when they come by making sure they know he is there.

>But most of all, she loves waiting for the truck driver to stop and say hi

I think the last sentence of the article really says a lot, this is what stuck with me from my experience. The garbage men/women always waved back and acknowledged that I was there. It's an interaction that kids don't always get to experience while watching something super cool happen right out front of their house.

[MisterTea]

When I was a young boy I was obsessed with trucks. My father was friendly with a local rigger and we visited his yard. It was heaven with trucks, cranes, and machinery all over. But the centerpiece was his heavy hauler Peterbilt with a large multi axle lowboy trailer. He put me in the driver's seat and I vividly remember that arched "corvette" dash covered in shiny polished gauges and switches and the high up view. Felt like I was sitting atop a building. I wanted to be a trucker! Well it don't quite work out that way but still to this day I have a great appreciation for them and went to a few antique truck shows. I even bought a 1961 MAck B61. It's a slow yet fun resto hobby. Everything is massive and takes considerable effort to manipulate.

[kettro]

Growing up in Toronto, I used to watch the show Mighty Machines[0]. I loved it - it would show construction vehicles and airplanes, and I ogled at it for hours. I can still remember the theme song. Makes me so very happy right now remembering it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Machines

[scarejunba]

Loved large wheeled vehicles when I was a child. Made buses out of toothpaste cartons and toothpicks and buttons with my grandma.

Loved to go by the train station to wave at the train. Pretty sure it's all just that they move and are big machines. Didn't take much. We lived out in the country in a different nation where big garbage trucks didn't exist.

[timonoko]

I remember the time before Garbage Trucks. Our housing complex had a separate garbage hut with split door. Every month a lorry or horse-driven cart came and men shoveled it empty. It was great fun to watch. Sometimes a rat escaped and there was a competition to kill it. Helsinki City paid good money for rat's tails.

[mcv]

When I was a kid, the coolest part of being a garbage collector was that you got to ride on the outside of the truck. They don't do that anymore these days, and garbage trucks don't seem to hold the same attraction for my kids as they did for me.

[dangerboysteve]

I don't think this is garbage truck specific fascination. Many years ago, I recall reading a story about a father who noticed his kids being glued to the apartment window watching a construction site next door. They were fascinated by the large and loud machines. He built a DVD video business from filming busy construction sites for kids. It was a success. Kids love big loud colorful things that move.

[arwhatever]

I wanted to be a garbage man because the guys ride on the side/outside of the truck. What other reason can there possibly be? :-)

[thanatropism]

The electricity company technical guys sometimes ride on a truck that has (as best as I can describe it) a snake-like elevating chair. That's so impossibly cool.

[kristianp]

I think part of the excitement is the noise. The screeching of the brakes as the truck pulls up and the crash of the rubbish out of the bin. It's a whole performance for the little ones.

[tentboy]

Ha, I always thought this was a weird fascination only I had

When I was younger my favorite movies were a set of pseudo-documentaries (that my mom would rent from the library for me) made for kids about mining, recycling, trash collection and a few other things.

I would watch them over and over and loved the parts where they dropped whole cars into the crusher.

I also distinctly remember being fascinated by a part where after collecting recycling they melted down the metal and they just showed a big molten pool of aluminum.

[dblohm7]

When I was a kid, it was all about catching the truck running a compaction cycle. As children of a mechanical engineer, my sister and I both found it fascinating.

[bytematic]

I loved street sweepers as a kid and would always rush to the window to watch them go across our city street. I loved the idea of taking away trash/dirtyness, something about that simple purpose was cool. It was easy to understand, unlike business or insurance (what my dad did)

[ryanmercer]

Same, I never paid any attention to garbage trucks but I was fascinated with street sweepers and similarly fascinated with the spinning brushes at car washes. Still am, and while I don't see street sweepers much anymore I genuinely enjoy going to the car wash and watching the multi-colored swirls of goo being slapped around my windshield by hundreds of little strips of fabric.

[JoeAltmaier]

Folks love large machinery. A garbage truck is large machinery that regularly vistits suburban homes. QED