Now that my kids are getting older and are capable of more independence than I ever thought possible, we are exploring uncharted territory in new ways every day. For instance, all four of my kids are now able to buckle themselves into their seats in the car – a milestone I once never thought possible, especially during the days of four car seats.
My youngest, Quinn, has even mastered buckling and unbuckling himself into his five-point harness car seat and, let me tell you, this thing is so sturdy it takes quite the thumb pressure to get the straps to release. He takes such pride in his ability to take care of himself every time we get in and out of our car, which is no more than 20 times a day. No joke.
But, sometimes, Quinn takes forever buckling himself into his carseat. And his two older brothers, usually role-playing or bothering each other as we load into the car, also take their sweet time buckling in. My threat is consistent: “You guys, if I get pulled over and you don’t have your seatbelt on, you will go to jail.” Too much? Probably. But, let’s be honest, when it comes to the safety of my kids, sometimes I exaggerate a bit.
I had never really thought too much about my threat until the other day. Quinn’s last year of preschool was winding down, and each child was asked to create a “memory” page for an album that would be compiled and presented to the teachers at the end of the year. Quinn decided that he wanted to include “a picture of me and Mickey Mouse stickers.” Easy enough. Once we finished that part of the page, I thought that maybe I should include a few quotes from Quinn about what he liked about his preschool and his teachers. I prompted him a few questions to get quotes for the page. Apparently I may have gone a liiiiittttllle too far with my threats about going to jail…
“My teachers are nice and they help us stay safe at school so we don’t go to jail.”
