Posted by mair on March 16, 2005, at 16:10:03
In reply to Re: status and teens » stresser, posted by AuntieMel on March 16, 2005, at 12:21:12
Although I'm sure my daughter thinks the minivan is uncool, I think the bigger issue is that parking is very scarce at her school - mostly just parallel parking on the street. I think I passed my "can't parallel park worth beans" genes along to her. Although she is not a morning person by any stretch, she gets herself out of the house early these days so she can get a parking space without really having to squeeze herself between 2 cars.
Last summer we bought a very used and inexpensive passat for both of my kids to use, but since my son is at college, my daughter gets pretty much unfettered use of it. I do have to remind her that it's not "her" car. Maybe if she was maintaining it and paying the insurance .... but that's just one of my pipe dreams.
I'd love it if my daughter could drive a stick shift because I really prefer them. My son had to learn on one because it's all we had then and it did make him feel very superior to his friends. A couple of years ago, before she drove, she and I were going somewhere in my husband's car. She went out into the garage before I came out and leaned over to turn the ignition on because god knows, she can't spend 5 seconds in the car without the radio - she knew nothing of clutches and the car lurched forward into the garage wall taking out some plastic shelving on the way. I think that was the beginning of the end for her with sticks. She went out once with my husband when she was learning how to drive but he gave her a big lecture about being careful with his car and she never got beyond the first stall-out.
mair
On the other hand, I might think it worth it to be paying for all the car expenses if it meant that I never had to buy her another piece of clothing and thus, never again had to walk into an Abercrombie, American Eagle, Banana Republic, Polo outlet or any of the more boutique like stores that sell gazillion dollar jeans.
poster:mair
thread:470880
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/child/20050226/msgs/471773.html