Thursday, April 14, 2011

Chaos in the Car

I remember when my kids were little and my husband and I would try to get everyone ready to go somewhere and it was a huge chore just to get everyone in the car.  But once we were all in the car it was a sigh of relief.  I do remember saying, "Please just get them in the car already so I can finish up in the house and I'll be right out!"

Now that they are older getting into the car isn't near as hectic.  It's once we are in the car that can be chaotic.  My older two were the best travelers.  They were always quiet, they'd read books, play with toys or sleep in the car and then came our third child.  He mostly would scream bloody murder whenever we'd be in the car and it was awful!  A ten minute trip to town was just annoying but a two hour trip to visit my parents was excruciating.  He is now almost four and hasn't cried in the car for some time.

Now we just deal with the constant talking and question asking of the three kids.  I hate to say it but I can only stand so much chaos and so a few times I've done the rudest thing ever to my kids and I turn up the radio!!  Isn't that awful!  I love them to pieces but I like it to be a little bit peaceful when I drive, wishful thinking I know, but I get exhausted when all three of them are trying to talk at the same time and they are all asking questions like..."What does Bill do?"  I reply, "He builds fence for farmers"  then the little one asks, "Does he build fence for puppies?"and this could go on and on about the specific types of fences Bill builds and for whom does he builds them for and what type of material are they built out of and has he built any of the fences that we see on our way to town.  I know you all know what I mean.

I enjoy talking to them but when I'm driving I'd rather they talk to each other.  I should say "Please talk amongst yourselves, here's a topic, now discuss."  Then they could visit together and I can just drive and listen to my radio.  In all honesty though I've been told that no matter what you should TRY to listen to your kids and answer their questions because if you don't they will stop visiting with you all together.  I do agree with that, however, I also agree that if I so rudely turn the radio up on them as a sign to 'please be quiet so I can drive you safely to our destination' it's probably not going to land them in therapy one day. I'm sure I'm doing a great job screwing them up in other ways.  :)
"The first duty of love is to listen." Paul Tillich

No comments:

Post a Comment