Red Light, Green Light

"Mommy, you didn't stop!" screamed Son recently after a red light.

"Huh?" Yes, I did. He said this a few times . Well, screamed to be heard from third row of bright blue Minivan (hey, I thought it would be easy to find in a crowded parking lot except every third Mom drives this weird blue Odyssey).

"It was RED, you need to stop!" After a few outings with this claim, I realized he hadn't been educated on Right on Red.

"It's okay, honey. You're allowed to turn Right on Red.

"Oh," he murmured.

What hit me, was that he'd been watching. Closely tracking my every driving move - along with everything else.

The truth is, every single tiny, unconscious, I-just-can't-pay-attention-to-everything thing we do is an example. Good or bad. Smart or dumb. Nice or mean.

They learn it all from us. Soon it will be from their peers at school. But for now, it's mostly Mom... and Dad. Unlike the snarl Son gave me this morning at my request to PLEASE GO GET DRESSED - that closely matched my own a few moments earlier- I have a little bit of distance between what I do behind the wheel today and how he'll drive in twelve years. Thank God.