public service announcement

This past Saturday the resident teen and his friends went to a birthday party. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the country.

Now - the resident teen is 16 and driving (we're going for our official license this week) and... all of his friends are driving too.

During the party - one of the little girls decided since they were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the country, she wanted to see how fast her parent's truck would go.  Down a gravel road. Despite other kids (including my son (This is where I thank God he has some common sense...)) telling her what a stupid idea that was.

She fish-tailed and hit a tree - bounced off and hit another tree...
She had two other girls with her.

As God would have it - all 3 girls are going to be physically fine - some bruises, cuts and a concussion. There was no alcohol involved.  Just... "joy" riding.

I have always had the rule with the teen-age man/child that he is not to ride with teenagers - and that when he starts driving, they are not to ride with him.  They pay more attention to each other than they do the road, they mess with radios and cell phones... there are even laws about teenage driving and the number of kids allowed in a car.

A couple of weeks ago I backtracked on myself. One of his friends that I love and adore had his parent's car and was driving to school - I let my son ride with him thinking the whole time, "he's a good kid and I know mine will be safe" (yes - I did call the school 15 minutes later to make sure they made it okay).  So, I'm guilty of not following my own rules when faced with pleading brown eyes. Sunday morning I confessed to the resident teen that I broke my own rule and that was wrong on my part - that that is not going to happen again and I'm going to be actively enforcing the "no driving/riding with teens" law.  After Saturday night, I believe he's all for it.

However, later on Sunday he brought up the fact that he's going to want to go on dates without me dropping them off.

How do you know if you've done your "drive safely - and I mean it" job correctly?

Where the heck is the driver's ed book for parenting?  geesh.

Please, remind your kids to not only be aware of how they drive - but to be aware of how their friends drive.  And, everyone else on the road.  Speed limits are for a reason - don't get in a car with their friends if their friends are trying to be a lil' crazy - gravel roads are sometimes dangerous - and if they are driving and their friends are with them that THAT is big responsibility... and there is no reason to see how fast a car/truck will go unless you're driving in the Nascar race.  I know you have probably already talked to them about all of this - but please, do it again.  I've just kinda babbled on over the past year or so - just here and there - but now I'm going to make a point of looking straight into the brown eyes of my teenager and repeating myself - over and over and over again.

It's important.

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...