My Son is a Student Driver....

.... And You Once Were Also.

I want you to remember that, as you drive down the road, honking maniacally at the teenager driving the speed limit and obeying the traffic laws in front of you.  As you deem yourself 'stuck' behind the slowest driver on the planet, waving your favorite finger and yelling your favorite unchristian words at him.  As you pass him illegally, screaming out your window, cell phone in one hand, coffee in the other, putting everyone on the two lane back road at risk.  Endangering my child's life because your phone call and arriving at your destination before everyone else are more important than his life.

Few things make a mom hit her knees in prayer more than having her child behind the wheel of a car, and let me tell you, I've got bruises on mine.  But knowing my child has already had numerous run-ins with people like this just frightens me all the more.  We're talking wrap-my-kid-in-bubble-wrap level of fear.

Everyone has to learn, and everyone must start somewhere. Noah has a fair level of confidence, and he does very well.  He still stalls at the stop signs every now and then, and, as a smart new driver, he takes the speed cautions on back road curves seriously.  No triple-dog-daring for him, he wants to make it home safely with his dad to his mama and his little brothers (and his mama likes it that way).  Noah is a smart kid.  Shawn started him off in the neighborhood, graduated him the roads around our neighborhood and now they've taken on some of the more challenging back roads, but still no major roads or highways.

I don't want to address road rage as an issue with this blog, even though it is a major problem in our country; I want to address putting a student driver at risk, and remembering that we all were, at one point, student drivers, and the need to be patient with today's student drivers.  We can't possibly know for sure the driver next to us or in front of us is a student driver and not a distracted driver, but let's go back to that word again:  PATIENCE.  We all tend to lose that skill when we get caught up in 70 mph traffic on the 4 lane highway in the middle of rush hour.  But what about the 2 lane back roads, which are supposed to be taken at a safe, leisurely 45 mph speed?  Enjoy the view, relax, and be grateful for the student driver in front of you who just saved you from plowing into that tree on that curve had you been going your usual 70 mph.

To put it another way--do you want to be the reason parents have to bury their child?  Because you were too impatient, because your phone call was more important and you were the distracted driver, because you chose to make dangerous, unsafe and illegal choices?

Please, my children are my life.  I live for them.  I love them more than you could understand.  Please be patient with them, and all the student drivers, on the road.  Be kind.

My son is a student driver, and you once were also.