Making Car Time More Worthwhile

Do you sometimes feel like the family Uber as you shuffle kids here and there between activities? If so, you are not alone. How would you like to make the most out of that precious time spent in the car?

We recently read an article from LifeTree and wanted to share it here with you. It offers some sound advice for car conversations.

​3 Ways I'm Making The Most of My Role As Mom-Chauffeur

1. Creating Rules For Technology That Make Space For Interaction:
We live in an age when it’s easy after a long day for kids to immediately turn to their device of choice for a game or text. Instead of letting my kids automatically “plug in and shut me out," however, I’m trying to be more intentional with our times together in the car by banning devices. Through this new rule, I’m discovering that this tin box with wheels is the perfect place to get my kids’ undivided attention, especially when I have a chance to be one-on-one with them. Our technology-free-zone has helped spur on all kinds of great and surprisingly deep conversations.

2. Asking Creative Questions:
The silence between me and my teens can be deafening some days. My kids can take open-ended questions and close them in a snap.
“Tell me about school,” I ask.
“It was good,” they say.
Open. Closed.
To help, I try having a few creative interactions in my arsenal.

• “What was the craziest thing that happened today?” is one question I ask often. My kids have come to respond, “Well nothing crazy happened, but this went on...”
• “What is the grossest thing you saw today?”  
• “If you compare the smell of your cleats to a rotten food, what would it be?”

I’m no longer afraid of getting outlandish and eliciting looks from my kid suggesting I’m crazy. My point is to think ahead and get my kids talking. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what I’ve learned.

3. Accept My Role As Cheerleader, Counselor and Mediator:
The very nature of being a pre-teen/teen is feeling like an awkward outsider, and these feelings are magnified in competitive or performing environments. Thus, chances are good that at least one of my children will have a “bad practice,” or a challenging day at work, or something bad after school at least once a day. I hold my breath after almost every practice or after school activity, hoping to see smiles…but too often seeing hung heads instead.

It’s easy for me to see my time spent in the circular drive as just another to-do--a drain on my already busy schedule during a busy time of year. Instead, I want to use this time in the car to reduce "the business" of parenting and make space to hear my kids. They want to know I care; I’m trying to use the mini-van as a conduit for just that.

To read the article in its entirety go to:
https://www.mylifetree.com/making-the-most-of-her-role-as-mom-chauffeur/?utm_source=internal_lifetree_kids&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ltk_newsletter_20190828&contact_eid=c6b76e9c-bff5-421d-96f1-a09a1bed413d&emaccount=lifetree&_bta_tid=05863831965476382047241604822724430618490214968667574835123220223137374482168331399648215604138779336965

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