Monday Minute: Too Many Electronics?

If you read my post last Monday, you know that I was GUILTED into going away this weekend with the family to a (gasp!) military event. And while I wasn’t really looking forward to it, and was REALLY pissed at my husband for manipulated the situation to suit him, it was actually kind-of fun. (By the way, if you mention that to my husband, I will cut your hair off in your sleep!)

But truth be told, I was more nervous about the drive than the actual event. With stops, it was about 8 hours each way. My kids have never been on a road trip. If it’s more than a few hours away, we fly. We’re just not a driving sort of family.

Well I have to say, the kids were GREAT! And of course they were great. We had movies, the PSP, my iPod, along with tons of snacks. WOW! Let’s think for a minute about road trips when we were kids. (Of course, I’m assuming that everyone reading this is around my age. If you’re not, keep it to yourself!)

There was the License Plate game. We never did see Alaska or Hawaii, so how was anyone supposed to win? And we had a Bingo game, with road signs and such instead of letters and numbers. Then there was listing items in a category (decided by Mom) using the letters A through Z in order.

But the thing I remember most from childhood road trips was “THE LOOK” from Dad. (Jaws music playing here!) I still shudder, just thinking about it. If we got “THE LOOK” we knew we were in REAL trouble. Dad never did threaten to stop the car, he would threaten to smack our knees. But the thing was, he couldn’t really drive and aim for one of us. The backseat contained me and my two sisters, giving him 6 knees to smack. And he did! No matter who was in trouble, we all got smacked knees. So that’s why we dreaded “THE LOOK!”

Hmmmm, I wonder if I’ve ever given “THE LOOK” to my kids. Naw, probably not!

Karen