One of my biggest fears as the boys get older is the day that they will take the keys and drive themselves.
Who forgets when they get their license? Or the first time they are alone behind the wheel?
Or their first accident?
I want to do whatever I can to help my boys avoid having an accident and Kelly, who sent me the video Roadworthy, said that it had made her boys (she has four too!) better RIDERS.
That sounded great to me. What better time to teach them then before they ever get the keys?
I told S1 and S2 that they had to actively watch this movie. S2 took it very seriously and even wrote down notes.
I did not expect that my husband and I would learn anything.
Was I ever wrong!
It's a driving instructional video so you expect it to be what it is. But it did a great job of explaining things. It explained why the information given to us was important. It told you what to look for when riding or driving. It made a point of telling you this was important business ("When is your teenager ready to drive? When you feel they can be trusted with a two thousand pound missile.")
It gave you fact advice like this....
What I appreciated here is that it tells you "You can die" but it doesn't make it so scary that you don't want to get behind the wheel. You need to have a healthy balance and I think Mike pulled it off here.
The day after watching this, my husband was texting me to see if I had tightened my seat belt and adjusted my mirrors.
And he wasn't joking.
I was curious what my two oldest boys, one just (gulp) two years from driving and one just nearly eleven years old. Here is what they had to say, in their exact words...
S1 - "It was pretty cool how all the steps were to be better driver and other kids are in teh same boat as me as far as ways they want to do it and stuff and it takes practice. It was cool about how to hold a steering wheel - I didn't know about that - and that your side mirror, when you go and turn, and if it's just a little bit past it you will be fine when turning."
He thinks it's more parent based and not kid based but he thinks that his friends should watch this video "just so they know all the steps and everything".
S2 - "What I liked was how they taught it. They demonstrated it because they were in a real car, and they showed models and they had toy little cars. What I learned was, how to turn a car so I won't hit anything, you have to have your right or left mirror past the object you will pass or turn on. It taught you all these safety precautions, how to prevent having accidents. It told me a lot about how to be a good driver when I can drive, like listen to my mom and dad and pull your seat belt up and make sure your mirrors are in the right position. And what to do if you are going to be an accident."
(I secretly want the page where he took notes because it really says, "Listen to my mom and dad." That's framable.)
I really cannot recommend this video enough. I am going to be passing it around to S1's friends parents so they can watch it with their soon to be drivers. It doesn't hurt at all to have them looking and aware NOW before they ever begin driving. Take a moment to check out their site
In their Order Shop they have many items, this video for twenty dollars (money well spent!) and curriculum for large groups as well.
Check it out - it's never too early to begin teaching our children safety!
I want to personally thank Kelly Cusick who sent this to me on a whim after asking my husband questions about what it was like to drive a semi truck (he still thinks that would be a great video) and caring enough to email me so we could have a nice email exchange. She was ever so patient with me as our dvd player broke the week this arrived (you cannot make this stuff up), then we had Christmas and then we simply forgot. It was never my intention to be so long in posting this.
Had Kelly not asked if I would blog about this, I would have anyway. I was that impressed, and she was that kind. Thank you.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment