Monday, August 18, 2008

Bad Dad: Driving with the kids

The Geek Dad blog has a section for 'Bad Dad' where the dads talk about things they've done with or to their kids that their spouses (or the authorities) might not approve of.

They had an entry a couple of weeks ago I could relate to: letting your kids drive. I think at some point all dads do this. Maybe just not as often as I did (note 'did', when they are old enough to really drive I'll sell the Mustang or get a 'Daughter Tune'.)

First time I let Meghan drive the Mustang was the day after Courtney was born. I was exhausted so I gave her the keys and told her to drive to preschool. Yeah right. Being a dad, who is always on time for things, often early, we arrived a few minutes before she needed to be dropped off in carpool lane. About 20 minutes early. So we went to lower parking lot (where there were no cars at all, honestly) and I put her on my lap and let her steer as I slowly drove around. The 97 Mustang was a manual with a lot of torque so all I had to do was let the clutch out a little bit and the car would move.

When we were done, I put her back in her car seat (yes car seats fit in the back of SN95 mustangs!) and went and got on line. The woman taking her out of the car immediately asked how Deb's labor was. It seems that I didn't do a good job on Meghan's hair that morning, so they assumed she had the baby.

After that, we did the 'go up the driveway, roll back down, go up the driveway' game. Except with 250+ HP it was sometimes neck snapping and always loud. Once or twice I left a patch of rubber on the driveway. oops.

When Courtney was old enough, I did the same thing with her in the same parking lot.

Courtney in 2000:




Courtney in 2006:

(I can't find any pictures of Meghan in the car. I know we have them, but that may have been before digital cameras.)

When Christopher came along I've done a few of the driveway 'races' but in the automatic GT (Yes, I'm getting old.) so it is still loud, but we don't spin the tires.

He does start preschool at the same school in a week. Hmmm ....

1 comment:

ryssee said...

I NEVER got to steer until I was securely and legally in posession of a driving permit. Darn it.
Great pics and recap!