Driving son update
28So yesterday my son backed out of my parents’ driveway and promptly hit a parked car. He did no damage to the car and only dented the bumper of my car. It’s something I can easily fix, but I’m not going to. It makes my car distinct.
Before anyone says anything, we did talk to the owners. They came out too and saw no damage to their car either, so that is good.
In other news, drove on the highway for the first time since driving school. I’m happy to report that we’re all alive and well.
- 7 comments, 13 replies
- Comment
“Someone” (not me) backed our car into a parking lot bollard and cracked the rear plastic bumper. Its an old car (8+ years) so instead of letting it hang, I ripped the broken part off, thereby exposing the metal bumper and frame.
When my kids asked what happened to the car I replied, “Daddy was fighting a dragon and was winning. Realizing it couldn’t win, the dragon swiped the back of the car before flying away in fear.”
@mml666 You warped their sense of reality!
/giphy twist reality
@OldCatLady They are used to it by now.
When they were afraid of monsters in the house I told them, “There are no monsters in the house. The monsters are afraid of daddy because they know that if they come into the house, daddy will kill them with his swords.”
@mml666 @OldCatLady we love the scene in the movie Major Payne when Waynes deals with the monster in the kid’s closet.
Glad it’s going well - we had a family car like that, with nicks and scratches and small dents attached to various family members -
“Oh, that’s from when Mom ran over the shopping cart.”
“That’s when the tree branch fell on Sis.”
“That’s from when my brother hit the deer.” (the car took the worst of it, deer was okay.)
@jst1ofknd Pics or it didn’t happen.
the first week i had my temps, we (mom &I) were leaving the local music store,getting my trombone fixed, backing mom’s Chevy out of it’s parking spot, never saw the gold Caddy parked at the edge of the lot…
luckily, it belonged to a nice, understanding, kindergarten teacher, who said " if that’s the worst you do, you’ll be in good shape" or something to that effect.
no damage to mom’s car, slight dent in the lower right quarter panel on the Caddy.
senior year, we have a band event at the elementary where she taught, Caddy was there, still had the dent.
When my sister was learning to drive, she missed the brake and hit the gas while backing up in a parking lot and somewhat damaged the front bumper of a deputy sheriff’s cruiser- they [unluckily for her] didn’t have the heavy rubber push bars on them way back then- we often teased her that she was why they eventually added those on.
Outcome: As she was driving on her learner’s permit, the deputy took pity on her- no ticket, no accident report, no penalties at all- our mom [her supervising driver] was not so kind…
You ask: what happened to our family car? Nothing- it was a Checker- built to be a cab and converted to family passenger vehicle by the Chevy dealer that repped them here- the rear bumper was massive, heavy steel and mounted on really big shock absorbers.
If I could lay hands on one now- I’d use it on our Ford F-350, which as our snowplow truck, gets backed into trees, rock gardens, and snow piles multiple times each winter.
@PhysAssist A Checker Marathon!
/image Checker Marathon
(I have a Checker Aerobus as one of the background pics on my work computer. :))
@narfcake @PhysAssist
I’d love to get my hands on one.
/image checker cab
@f00l @narfcake
Me too!!
@narfcake We had 2 of them from my tween through early college years, the second being one of their last model-year in 1982.
I wish I could somehow get a new one now
…
Although as I said above, I’d settle for one the bumpers…
The first time my Dad let me back the car out of the garage (he was guiding me from outside) I panicked, hit the gas and was still in 1st gear. Completely crushed a metal ladder that was in front of me leaning against the wall, he’s yelling to “STOP!!!” and I just mashed the gas pedal harder. Damned lucky I wasn’t actually in reverse or I would’ve ended up in the street, if I hadn’t run him over as well.
You’ll survive!
My kids are only 3 and 5 and I’ve been dreading the last couple years about when they’re old enough to drive. I think I’m going to get super stressed out and anxious. I shouldn’t be worrying about this yet, right?
@luvche21 Its worrying about that or them starting dating…or both!
@luvche21 Or worrying about when their friends start to drive and you had no idea they got in the car with a new driver. Fortunately for you you have 10 or so years to figure out how you will keep them in encased in bubble wrap.
Oh I forgot. Don’t forget to worry about bumper hitching - either while riding a bike, wearing roller blades/skates or on a scooter or in the snow just sliding along on their feet or while on a sled. Lets see… There is also and jumping out of a tree on to a trampoline, climbing a tree while wearing roller blades. My kid and/or my siblings and/or I did all of those.
And then there is doing a “chinese fire drill” over the top of the car while it is underway. Driver goes out the window over the roof, passenger gets into driver’s seat. One time deciding to grab a tree branch while on the roof… I was a passenger in a van in Scotland when other outward bound instructors were doing that. And there was the air mattress race (this is an actual organized race not just nut brains who are young enough that their frontal lobes still aren’t fully developed - that would be people under about around 28 or so, the frontal lobe affects the ability to anticipate consequences of actions) down the river that went down the highest mountain in the UK (in Scotland) where sections were named things like “leg breaker”…
I am sure we can create a long list of things for you to worry about to get your mind off of the driving thing. You are welcome. (
)
@Kidsandliz stop it!
Both are daredevils so at least I’ll be warming up to these over the years.
@mml666 eh, the dating sounds less scary for some reason.
@luvche21 Oh and I forgot my brother’s trick. Out the attic window on to the garage roof via a rope ladder, hang and drop from the basketball hoop to the ground, out for a night on the town with other kids while parents think he is asleep in bed.
Dating… most teen sex is between school and parents coming home from work. A kid down the street would make out with her boyfriend in her boyfriend’s car while her parents worked (didn’t do it in the house due to younger brother she was supposed to be watching) and I once was helping a neighbor catch her dog when the leash broke and walked in on 2 neighborhood kids having sex in the backyard of an empty house for sale.
Seriously though giving your kids a face saving way out of doing things they don’t really want to be doing (that peer pressure is making it hard to back out of) that blames you for them backing out can help.
@Kidsandliz @luvche21 a co-worker of mine once said, “Boys are easier than girls. With boys you only have to worry about one penis. With girls you have to worry about all of them.”