A Window Into Our Kids' Driving Future

On our way to visiting my in-laws this past weekend, we stopped by at a mall somewhere in Connecticut, where we stopped for a quick bite to eat at Johnny Rockets and let the kids stretch their legs a little in a little indoor play area that they had in the mall. It was, after all, a bit of a drive, and we wanted to kids to have a chance to run around a little before hopping back into the car.

The play area was a five by ten yard enclosure which had glossy, yet sturdy solid plastic slides shaped as mushrooms, upright walls with objects which could be spun with small hands, and a couple of cartoony animals, boats and cars which could be climbed on and into. It was sort of like a Seussical wonderland made out of polymers.

What was interesting was seeing Daniel and Sophia happily sitting in two adjacent cars pretending to drive as they spun their respective plastic steering wheels around and round. Sarah and I leaned against each other and just sort of looked at them, wondering if this was some sort of strange window of what we might see sixteen or even twenty-five years from now, watching our two kids pull into our driveway. Who knows? Maybe they'll, as my brother and I do, pull into their parents' driveway with their kids to visit the grandparents.

I just hope they drive better than we did as teenagers.