On New Year's Day my 7-year-old son and I removed the front bumper from my '55. He was thrilled to help dad. I showed him how to lie on the floor, skootch under the car on his back, look everything over and devise a plan before putting a wrench on anything. Big one: how to hold the light so it shines right on the task and not in dad's face. He got an A+ on light holding. Then I showed him the places where we needed to remove nuts/bolts and explained that you want to loosen them but not remove them so the bumper does not suddenly fall on your head. Keep your face out from under where you're working so all the dirt/grit doesn't fall into your face/eyes. How to hold the ratchet firmly by its head so the force applied goes directly to the fastener. How to loosen tight fasteners carefully, feeling how tight it actually is, so it doesn't suddenly loosen and you punch the frame with your wrench hand and bleed all over the place. Remove all but two bolts and then see how loose the bumper is. Get out from underneath--big one: don't hit your head on the car!--and then loosen the remaining two bolts and pull the bumper off the car. He stood on the driver's side and held the bumper and I was on the pass side and we wiggled the bumper off the car. He was thrilled. The serious look on his face and his 100% attention throughout the job was the best part. I could see the "wow" look on his face when the bumper came off and there we were holding the bumper and I said, "See, no problem." He looked like he had just soloed an airplane for the first time. Then showed him how to attach the un-needed brackets back onto the bumper so you'll have them someday when you either put the bumper back on or sell the car.
There is nothing in the world like seeing your son's (or daughter's) face when you show them how to do something that seems so easy to us but seems impossible to them.
I then showed him how to spray satin black on the exposed areas to make it look good. Later on before dinner I got out some of my old books and magazines and showed him '55 gassers without their front bumpers and explained why racers would remove the bumpers, etc. What a great day.
Oh, and when I lifted the bumper up into the garage attic and put it in the rafters he was fascinated. "Why are you putting it up there?" "Because I don't need it anymore but someday someone will buy the car from me and I'll have the bumper to go with the car." "Are you going to sell the car?" "Not anytime soon but someday it will get sold." "Oh." Then into the house to tell his mother all about it.