Rules of the Road

I don many hats nowadays...Maid, Chef (I use that title very loosely), Boo-Boo-Kisser...and Taxi Driver, just to name a few. Ben is in the car a lot with me, and I have to say that it has tamed the road-rager in me...for the most part. I've let a few honks slip--but never an f-bomb--and Ben inquisitively asks why I did that, so I'm forced to tell the truth: "Because that silly man made a bad choice and went through a red light." Recently, he's caught on that these types of traffic violations are dangerous--and he even thinks that the police should somehow be involved. At first I was impressed with his good-citizen attitude on the road, but now...well, it seems like we have a little goody-two-shoes on our hands...and in our backseat.

Last Friday night, we headed out to pick up Ben's birthday cake before his Monkey Joe's party the next morning. We were on our way back home after the quick errand, and since I haven't been feeling well, I have been behind the wheel when we take family car-rides--yes, I still get carsick in the front seat.

We came upon a turn, and the light was greenish-turning-yellow, so of course I didn't stop. Heck, this is Florida--it could have been yellowish-already-red and "people" still go. I turned through the yellow light and heard a shocked little *gasp* coming from the backseat.

"Mommy!" Ben said, with his eyes wider than headlights. "That light was not green!"

I explained to him that I knew that, but that the yellow light just meant that there was a little bit of time before it turned red--I fought the urge to bestow my 'green-means-go-but-yellow-means-go-faster' motto upon his impressionable mind.

Apparently, that wasn't a satisfying explanation. "Mommy, we need to call the police."

Are you kidding me, kid? (Brad's stifling laughter at this point, not helping whatsoever in the situation.) I just looked at him in the rearview mirror and told him that since it wasn't an emergency, we didn't need to bother the police.

"Oh," he said. "Well, that was a bad choice."

He even reminded both me and Brad the next day that I had driven through that yellow light.

"Memember when you went through that yellow light, Mommy? That was a not good choice."

Yes, I memember. I just hope he memembers all this when he starts taking drivers' ed...