Life Lessons

Dan and I feel that it is important to start teaching our children good habits and life lessons early on. For instance, when we go out to eat at restaurants we encourage Stella to order for herself. We believe that it not only helps her to learn manners but that it also teaches her a sense of independence. Although Stella is 13 years away from getting her drivers license we also believe that it good to start teaching her good habit or skills while driving, this we do more by setting an example for her by the way we drive. Last Friday we were driving in pretty decent rush hour traffic, it was very slow moving with a lot of stopping. Stella and I were having our own personal dance party in the car when all of a sudden she started screaming in delight “the car is driving itself, it’s drive all by itself!” Not thinking she was talking about our car I frantically replied “where?!?” “OUR CAR IS DRIVING ALL BY ITSELF! YOU AREN’T HOLDING ON TO THE WHEEL!” she replied. I then looked down and realized what she was talking about. I had been steering with my knee so I could have both hands free to dance. I explained to her that since we were going so slow that I was using my knee to steer. Well, this is pretty cool to a 3 year old. She started laughing saying “again! again!” I am so glad that I was able to teach Stella a lesson in responsible driving that day: that it is more important to have both your hands free to dance than it is to actually keep them on the wheel and pay attention to what you are doing when you drive.