For quite some time now Kate has been buckling herself into her car seat. Having expressed the desire to be a big girl and buckle herself in, I allowed her to do so. This skill was a source of pride for her, something she could do without my help. And so the routine of climbing into the car countless times each day and fastening her restraints became, well, routine. Automatic. Never a power struggle. Something she did as naturally as blinking. Until one day.
Kate climbed into the car after school and dutifully arranged herself in her car seat. I proceeded to pull away, assuming she was properly restrained. I glanced in the rear view mirror only to see her sprawled across her seat sideways. Unable to pull over, I demanded that she buckle herself in at once.
"What will happen?" she asked curiously.
Well, honey, if I were to slam into another vehicle, the simple laws of physics dictate that you would continue to move at the rate of speed at which I was traveling, at which point you would be ejected from our vehicle through the glass windshield, causing catastrophic, most likely fatal damage. Basically, you would be killed upon impact.
"You would get very hurt," I answered, without going into any detail.
My answer further piqued her interest. "Will my eyeballs fall out?" she asked breathlessly.
"Yes."
Click.
No problems since that conversation.
6 comments:
Funny! She led herself right into that! Sometimes the best answer is the most direct one. In our house, we often just say, "and then you could die." It seems to work.
that is a riot! i let fluffy buckle himself too and one day while blithely zooming along, the guy in front of me stopped short, i did the same,and fluffy ended up in a heap on the floor in front of his seat. oh my! the buckle! i must make sure to check!
Oh yes, this is a new skill for my little guy too! And he takes it very seriously. But can I tell you how many times my dear husband just drives off without bothering to check if all is secure, and the little voice in the backseat screams, "DAD, I'm not ready!!!"
How sad that I trust the kid more than the grown up...sigh.
Lori- The "and then you could die" answer is always in my head. I haven't used it yet because I don't think they would understand.
Kyra- Poor Fluffy!
Kristen- We've had the same thing happen. What is it about the husbands?
That's so funny. Sometimes you HAVE to scare them -- when it's a nonnegotiable safety issue.
SM- You are absolutely right. I don't want to scare the poor kid, but it does make me feel better that the eyeball thing was her idea and not mine.
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