Backseat Driving!

Car crazy boys are not great companions to drive around! Not only do they assume the role of a navigator, but don’t be surprised if you find them masquerading as a driving instructor too! If you have a car obsessed brat at home, you’ll know what I’m talking about! I mean…it’s about time we moms of car crazy boys start a face book page …or is there one already? Abhay pretends to be “Mr. Know all” when I’m behind the steering wheel! He demands an explanation every time I change lanes or yield to a fellow driver or stop to take a turn! As if this is not enough, he doesn’t shy away from offering his own opinion about when to overtake, where to park, whether to take a chance and cross the traffic signal, how much further to go - all these commands emanating from an occupant of a booster seat! What is most surprising is that his instructions are only for me and not his dad! Little did I realize that there was a budding MCP right under my nose!:-) 

Anyway, a good way to get these car crazy boys to start reading on their own is to have them read books on cars and they’ll be more than happy to oblige! Today I had Abhay read “Zoom Zoom Zoom” by Kirsten Hall and illustrated by Viviana Garofoli, published in a My First Reader format. A little boy is seen driving his new car around the house – slow and fast, near and far, at night and day, towards right and left and finally back to his room! The illustrations in the beginning present an illusion of the boy driving a car on a regular road which got Abhay furious as to how could a little boy drive when Abhay's always told to wait till he is eighteen! It was a task to get him to carry on reading and reach the last page that makes it explicitly clear that he was after all driving his imagination! Thank God for the last page, otherwise Abhay would have been on the driver’s seat of our car, the first thing in the morning!