Back Seat Driver

As I mutter under my breath at the line of traffic that stretches before me, blocking my path to our current mecca, Chik Fil A, I hear a voice from behind me say, "Why did we stop, Momma?"

"See all of those cars in front of us?  We have to stop because they stopped.  It's called traffic."

She looks out the window at the cars.  "Come on, dude.  Let's go."  I have no idea where she gets this stuff other than directly from me.

Soon we are moving again.  The Nugget doesn't miss a thing while we're driving anymore.  "Red light, Momma!  We stop at red lights."  "Yellow light, Momma.  Why didn't you slow down?"  "Oh, no!  That was a stop sign, Daddy!  You were supposed to stop!"

No more rolling stops for us.  The cops are actually in the car with us now.  Just in the form of a very bossy and rule-oriented three year old. 

*Sigh*

Why did we teach her the colors.  And WHY, for the love of all that is holy, did we teach her what they mean?

It makes me smile, though.  Sometimes it makes me laugh out loud.  She's looking, she's listening, she's learning.  She draws her own conclusions, sometimes very misguided ones, but sometimes, as in most traffic situations, maddeningly on target.

The hardest part about having this new little back seat driver on board is the fact that I am going to have to find some new role in the family.  I thought that was my role.

Comments

  1. This makes me laugh, because my husband and I have had the exact same thoughts. Warning: don't teach them what the speed limit is. :)

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  2. I can relate to this VERY well although my kids got over paying attention to my every move in the car a while ago.

    But when they were young, they were hawks. Particularly my son.

    One time, when we were leaving swim lessons, I got pulled over by an ACTUAL police office who informed me I was speeding in a 35-mile-an-hour zone.

    I said, "I'm so sorry! I thought the speed limit was 45" at which point Jack informed both of us that I was going 47.

    Oops.

    And yes. I got a ticket.

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  3. LOL! My three year old understands that we stop on red and go on green, but she thinks that I am controlling the stoplights. So whenever we stop at a red light she starts yelling at me to make it turn green!

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  4. Mine always tell me I'm going the wrong way or ask if I know how to get where we are going. Sadly, I usually wind up lost....

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  5. YES. I know this. It's constant. And so are the why's....

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