Teen Summer Driving

So how’s your summer going with the kids at home? I actually kind of miss the summers I spent driving my kids all over the place.

These days I have more time to myself but I spend a lot of it worrying when my teens are on the road. Thank goodness many teens these days seem more responsible than previous generations about drinking and driving. Now if we could only get them to realize that driving and cell phones are just as dangerous...

I have one teen with a learner’s permit, which, needless to say, makes a simple trip around the block stressful. Not to mention when she decides to ramp up her learning and take a turn with the stick shift, in which case I get whiplash just going down the driveway...

I have somewhat resolved this dilemma by realizing that, to my surprise, her older siblings make much better teachers than I do. My would be driver takes instruction more easily from her sister and brothers and they have more patience and technical knowhow than I do for sure. Plus they like the same kind of music and all of them would rather drive around doing errands than stay home pretending to do the dishes!

This summer our household also has a couple of teens who drive themselves to work, very capably I might add, but have nowhere to park. So one came home with a golf ball through the rear window and the other was a victim of a fender bender hit and run. Fortunately the former was covered by insurance and the latter was sort of fixed with a hammer, wrench and some spray body paint.

But the most unusual driving memory this summer doesn’t involve the teens at all – it would surely be the huge wild female turkey we had to keep chasing off the roof of the car!
DE August 20 blog

Easy and Fun Family Times!

I find summer a great time for family activities. Without the pressures of homework and school bedtimes, I can connect with my children in fun, creative ways.

Whether you and your children are hanging out at the beach, the cottage or just enjoying some long light-filled evenings at the playground with ice cream, here are some of our family favourites!

1. One summer, I bought a box of watercolour paints, a couple of brushes and paper and set myself up in the back yard. I tried my hand at painting flowers, birds, kids at the playground, and sunsets. Inevitably one or more of my children became interested and joined in. Although nothing was really ever of ‘framable’ quality, we shared some wonderful moments together.

One year we even tackled a bedroom at the cottage. Using a template and acrylics, we sponge painted large random overlapping dots in shades of blue, green and yellow all over the walls. The dots have been there for years now and each teen remembers who painted what! It’s such a great memory, I wouldn’t dream of painting over it.

2. At a family restaurant, a good time buster while waiting for the food to arrive is a game called “Take Off the Table”. One person removes an object from the table (while the others have their eyes closed) and holds it in their lap. The others have to guess what it is. Some ground rules can be set, i.e. no candles, no food, etc.

As my kids got older and savvier, the rules became more complicated, such as “Could items be repeated?” or “Does salt count as food?” Half the time, we wouldn’t have the rules straight before the food came...

3. Shake up the family routine with lots more picnics and finger food, scavenger hunts in the backyard and staying up late to see the stars. Water balloon tosses, sparklers for no reason, croquet, backyard bowling with kitchen boxes and cans, chalk hopscotch, lemonade stands and fort building etc. all conspire to create great summer memories for your kids.

Some of our fondest memories were the nights we had nothing but all-you-can-eat, make-your-own ice cream sundaes for dinner. But don’t quote me on that one!

Doone Estey
Co-founder of Parenting Network

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