Here is a picture of a trailer piled with junk and stuff.I'm sure you're all sick of listening to me whine about how much driving around I do for my girls, but I'm going to whine just a little more. I drove over two hours on both Friday and Saturday. It's not just picking up and dropping off my own children, it's picking Stinky up from Rock and Skate at the mall on Friday night to find she had three other kids with her who all needed lifts home. I try to give all the kids rides who need them, because when I was in high school, if I was ever allowed to go out at all, I had to depend on everyone else for transportation. And, of course, all the kids live out in the country in totally opposite directions. Johnny lives just on the Missouri border and Sally lives closer to Illinois. (or something like that, but way less exaggerated)
It's not the driving that's so hard to take, but the conversations going on in the back seat. Usually, it's a big group of junior high kids letting their ADD flags fly. Sometimes it's amusing hearing which kids in school pick their nose and eat it in study hall, but mostly it's so disturbing, that if I weren't driving, I'd just put my hands over my ears, shake my head and say, "HowmanyhowmanyhowmanytimesdoIhavetosayhowmany" until the voices stopped.
This last Friday I was picking up one of Coadster's friends who just recently moved out to the country. On the way back into town toward the bowling alley, we were discussing how they dealt with living so far out of town.
Coadster's Friend: Sometimes I have to drive for my mom because she gets tired.
Me: Do you have your permit?
C's Friend: Almost.
Me: Well, at least it's only about a twenty minute drive. So, your mom gets too tired to drive in that time?
C's Friend: Well, actually...My parents are big partiers and usually it's just safer for me to drive us all home.
Me: Oh. Um, sure.
I'm not sure which scenario I should have found more alarming: if her mom had such bad narcolepsy, she couldn't drive for twenty minutes without falling asleep at the wheel or that her parents take their fourteen year old daughter out partying with them in order to have a designated driver.
9 comments:
That's truly lame when the parents are bigger partiers than the kids. Grow the f*ck up!
Churlita,
Now that's scary!
When I was driveing my kids and their friends around, they were quieter than church mice. It's been my experience that kids talk more around moms than dads.
rel
But think of what they save in cab fare . . .
I'm just pleased kids still go roller skate. We were just talking a couple nights ago wondering if they did. A lot of jr high Sat afternoons at the rink. I disastrously tried to skate backwards so I could "slow skate" with Debbie, who wasn't interested anyway.
yikes, so arranging a carpool or asking that they pick the girls up is completely out
That kid is going to need therapy.
I have never considered that children would make great DDs. Thanks for the tip! I've got some life planning to reconsider.
Bice,
Sorry I didn't comment sooner on here but Blogger wouldn't let me. Now, I'm right there with you. I've noticed this weird phenomenon when kids get into junior high and high school and parents think they're done. They go out and party and leave their kids on their own too much. My kids probably wish I'd do that.
Rel,
I've also noticed a difference between the way kids are around me than they are around moms who are still married. It's almost like, since I'm single, I'm not a real grown-up.
Trevor,
Rock and Skate is ice skating at the big scary maul in Quarrelville. There is a roller rink in Cedar Rapids, but the kids usually only go all the way over there for special occassions. It's not like when I was a kid and skating was in and all the kids wore their jeans with skates embroidered on the back pocket and their gigantic combs hanging out the back of their jeans so they could obsessively feather and refeather their hair.
Margaret,
When the girls were younger, I could carpool with other parents. Now, I drive up and all these kids I've never met before, pile into my car for a ride home.
Eek,
I'm sure she'll just either be a big drinker herself, or never touch a drop as a way of rebelling.
Liz,
Yeah, there's that whole tax break thing and they can clean your house when they get to a certain age, designated drivers, and when you get old, they can change your diaper for you too.
I'm with Eek. Therapy for everyone!
Retropolitan,
Maybe her parents could buy a round of therapy for the house.
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