Posted on 04/30/2025 4:19:42 PM PDT by BenLurkin
“Do you know why? My grandson is 16 and not even interested in getting his drivers permit.”
This is not necessarily the case with your grandson; however, my theory is that social media has replaced the need to socialize via car. A way less fun substitute of course, so it is still hard to understand what they are thinking.
Kids got gumption.
Wow, I actually know something about Ogden UT, that’s where I mail my Federal Tax Return.
Explain street take overs
“I have difficulty seeing how a 7 year old could even reach the pedals”
Hence two kids getting the job done.
Division of Labor is a integral part of Capitalization.
And proven effective.
Keep the keys in your pocket....
“...ranchers kids...”
At first, I was incredulous and questioned that the story could even be true. However, I thought about it further and realized my 8-year-old twin grandsons might be capable of this feat. They are farm boys and are driving the skid steer under very close supervision. I don’t think they would try such a thing as a trip alone with their little sister though.
“...know something about Ogden UT, that’s where I mail my Federal Tax Return...”
True, but there are some pretty kool train exhibits there.
Plus one has to drive through there to get to some kool ski areas. YMMV.
“But I remember that I paid a bit over $2000 per year for insurance. It was a total rip-off.’
My oldest two Grandkids, Both are in college, working, and paying their own way. But it is not enough to also pay their car insurance so parents have to chip in right now to help and on their own extended personal insurance. One costs 3,000 a year, and the other costs 2,500 a year. The difference is the car make, models, and years. Both have a clean driving record.
Lol, I get your doubt considering city culture society now days... But all the kids in those days were driving around to do chores. fix fence, haul water, check tracks on water troughs to see if a particular cow had her calf yet, hunt, trap, etc. At seven Cuz and I would drive from the ranch 30 miles to town twice a week to get the mail and any messages. We were lucky to even see one car the whole round trip. The difference was the era and City vs Country... :)
My youngest didn’t get his license until he was 19.
It was no fault of his.
In Texas, you need a certain number of hours behind the wheel before you can road-test. Right after his driver’s education course, my long COVID hit with a vengeance. Driving? In between hospital visits and struggling to hang onto my job, I was lucky to get off the couch. Novel seizures, neurological damage, digestive system shut down 3 times, lungs destroyed, and now I’m going blind.
Fun times.
I begged my husband and middle child to help him get his hours in.
Then there was the 3 month wait for a DPS appointment, only to be told we didn’t have all the right paperwork. Another 3 months for the next DPS appointment.
Passed his driving test with flying colors.
Actually, I’m impressed.
How did she not know her 7 and 5 year old were missing, and her car?
Reasons for practicing stick shift driving and the use of paper maps.
My nephew was killed on this past April 13th. A sole underage driver turned left when he didn’t have the right of way and my nephew T boned his motorcycle into the underage driver. My nephew died shortly afterwards. He was a disabled Marine who was wounded multiple times on his second tour of Fallujah Iraq.
Love that. Rant off.
That's true but not in the scope we recall. Unless you were in Southern California, there were a few cool hotrods but far more rusting beaters and regular cars. We just didn't see them as they were background noise to us.
A lot of Pintos, Chevettes, 6 cylinder Camaros instead of Z28s, 4 cylinder mustangs (and Mustang IIs). Most of the cars, even the fixed up hotrods, were more than 10 years old. Which is why teenagers could afford them.
A lot of those kids were out mingling with friends in a world that was changing right in front of them. Bruce Springsteen captured it well in 'Born to Run'.
Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Beyond the palace, hemi-powered drones
Scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
The highways jammed with broken heroes
On a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
But there's no place left to hide
Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Oh, someday girl, I don't know when
We're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go, and we'll walk in the sun
But 'til then, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run
Our memories of cruising ignore a lot of the bleakness. If you watch parts of a documentary like "Heavy Metal Parking Lot", you see young adults driving to concerts and hanging out in the parking lot. They look as banged up as the cars do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBryTebK2Og
They were doing the best they could in a stark situation. Kids these days have the option of connecting with like-minded others through the internet and their phones.
Condolences for your loss.
“I wanted to do hood rat stuff wiff my friends” - Latarian Milton
My twin grandsons “stole” our golf cart out of our barn when they were 4! lol One operated the steering wheel while the other one worked the pedals. Needless to say, as we sat on the deck talking and saw the golf cart speeding past, their Mom took off running since they were heading towards the street [& our fence]. They did really good though....Scott turned the wheel to avoid the fence about the time their Mom caught up with them. By the age of 7 they were driving the golf cart with no problems, taking turns. After that they advanced to our Kawasaki Mule. I won’t get into the two of them playing “gas station” with the water hose and their dad’s John Deere mower.....insert eyeroll....Kids, huh? haha
Children driving.
This article along with a radio interview with a Michigan county sheriff is upsetting.
He said he has to have non uniformed officers in unmarked cars watch for freeways for drivers engaged in distracted driving. Police cars alert the drivers to quickly stop the practices and play innocent.
He personally has observed drivers such as a woman holding the steering wheel with her knees and using the sun visor mirror to apply mascara. Another doing full makeup. Another using both hands on the cell phone to do texting (again knees to hold wheel steady). Many are texting as they drive each day.
All of us have seen the driver ahead at the stoplight as it changes to green, not moving and then looking up from the phone to see the changed world around the car includes a green light and maybe a honk or two behind them.
Here is one that once shocked me.
Not a joke.
Sleep driving.
Part of sleepwalking or related to it, sometimes with a drug but not always. A coworker’s husband (a psychologist treating spectrum children) has engaged in sleep driving. Had no memory of visiting friends and coming home in the car. Sleepwalking, too, usually at home.
Mayo Clinic (and many others):
“Sometimes, people who sleepwalk will:
Do routine activities, such as getting dressed, talking or eating.
Leave the house.
Drive a car.”
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleepwalking/symptoms-causes/syc-20353506#:~:text=Sometimes%2C%20people%20who%20sleepwalk%20will,Drive%20a%20car.
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Non-REM parasomnias: Parasomnias occurring in other stages of sleep are categorized as disorders of arousal. Night terrors, sleepwalking, and confusional arousals (also called “sleep drunkenness”) fall under disorders of arousal, which occur when a person has minimal cognition, though they may appear awake with their eyes open. Abnormal sexual activity while asleep, and without intention or thought, is one type of confusional arousal. Typically patients have no or minimal recall of the event. Non-REM parasomnias usually occur during the first third of the sleep period, in deep (slow wave) sleep.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-driving-and-other-unusual-practices-during-sleep-2019091617754
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