5 ms·

Disclaimer: I'm not a parent. But is driving kids around really quality time?

DLarsen 12y ago
It's all what you make of it. A ton of life is spent doing relatively mundane tasks, and I think there's a great opportunity to redeem that time. It all adds up.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- hrktb 12y ago
  I think the main difference is that driving is a dangerous activity. You won't be playing with your kid while driving, you won't look at the wonderful drawing he/she did in class, and you can't engage any discussion that make you think or feel too much. It's not like you're doing the dishes.
  - giarc 12y ago
    I would disagree. If you can have a discussion with your adult passenger, you can have a conversation with your kid. Ask them how their day was, do they have homework, are they excited for soccer tonight? It all goes a long way to making your kid feel special, developing communication skills etc.
    - hrktb 12y ago
      >If you can have a discussion with your adult passenger To give a frame of reference, I don't believe that driving is so easy that most people can do it competently on a daily basis. I find the experience extremely broken, and it seems difficult for a lot of people to drive 100% correctly; signalling before turning would be an obvious one: It should be simple, but the fact that otherwise competent people don't do it hints at a problem with the system itself. People commute and don't scratch their car everyday, but I think for the majority it's more a combination of luck and tolerance of the system than pure skill and mastery of the art. In this respect, I think most drivers are not OK having a discussion with their passengers. They can, because they don't devote 100% of their brain power to driving (it's more of a chore than anything else, and no one wants to focus on chores), but personally I think they shouldn't. Eventually we should find a driving system more centered about user safety, better designed and less taxing for the driver, but I'm not holding my breath. I guess it's obvious now, but I think most people should live in urbanised areas with good public transports, and/or high tolerance to walking/biking/kick boarding. Walking my kid to school is a nice experience, like you describe it; Driving my kid would be stressing at best, I'd be more focused on the brake light of the car in front of me than the soccer match tonight.
penguat 12y ago
When do you think I learned to do math in my head? or played tic-tac-toe without a board? or learned many word games? The only time I was bored enough to pay attention ;)

It's all what you make of it. A ton of life is spent doing relatively mundane tasks, and I think there's a great opportunity to redeem that time. It all adds up.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
hrktb 12y ago
I think the main difference is that driving is a dangerous activity. You won't be playing with your kid while driving, you won't look at the wonderful drawing he/she did in class, and you can't engage any discussion that make you think or feel too much. It's not like you're doing the dishes.
- giarc 12y ago
  I would disagree. If you can have a discussion with your adult passenger, you can have a conversation with your kid. Ask them how their day was, do they have homework, are they excited for soccer tonight? It all goes a long way to making your kid feel special, developing communication skills etc.
  - hrktb 12y ago
    >If you can have a discussion with your adult passenger To give a frame of reference, I don't believe that driving is so easy that most people can do it competently on a daily basis. I find the experience extremely broken, and it seems difficult for a lot of people to drive 100% correctly; signalling before turning would be an obvious one: It should be simple, but the fact that otherwise competent people don't do it hints at a problem with the system itself. People commute and don't scratch their car everyday, but I think for the majority it's more a combination of luck and tolerance of the system than pure skill and mastery of the art. In this respect, I think most drivers are not OK having a discussion with their passengers. They can, because they don't devote 100% of their brain power to driving (it's more of a chore than anything else, and no one wants to focus on chores), but personally I think they shouldn't. Eventually we should find a driving system more centered about user safety, better designed and less taxing for the driver, but I'm not holding my breath. I guess it's obvious now, but I think most people should live in urbanised areas with good public transports, and/or high tolerance to walking/biking/kick boarding. Walking my kid to school is a nice experience, like you describe it; Driving my kid would be stressing at best, I'd be more focused on the brake light of the car in front of me than the soccer match tonight.

penguat 12y ago

When do you think I learned to do math in my head? or played tic-tac-toe without a board? or learned many word games? The only time I was bored enough to pay attention ;)