Did you hear about the 8-year old boy who drove his father's van into a tree?
This alone sounds a little crazy, but it gets better.
On February 8, 2009, in Sarasota, FL an 8-year old boy and his 34-year old father were driving along and the boy ran into a tree with the van that he was driving. When officers arrived at the scene, the father was asked to get out of the vehicle. As he was reaching for his driver's license, he fell to the ground and landed on his face. He told the officers that he was feeling woozy and didn't want to drive so he asked his son to drive. He later stated that he wanted to have a bonding moment with his son.
When officers spoke to the 8-year old boy, they got a different story. The boy claimed that his father took some "liquid medicine" in order to feel better. He then pointed to an empty bottle of Canadian Whiskey in the vehicle.
The father was arrested on child endangerment.
Can you believe this story?
We discussed it at dinner the other night with our 8-year old son. Of course, he was hoping we would say HE could drive now, but we quickly put an end to that idea.
4 comments:
This leaves me thinking, if I were drunk would I want a 8 year old to drive me home rather than to get a DUI or possibly get in a wreck and hurt my own kid? Some kids drive tractors on the farm at 8 so maybe it's not quite as bad as it seems, but how did he reach the pedal? Of course the right thing to do was for no one to drive but that didn't happen here.
Jen,
We discussed this with our son over dinner. Dan stated that when he was younger, when visiting relatives who owned a farm, it was very common for them to ask the younger kids to drive somewhere. I guess that is something that happens in the more rural areas. The topic of how the child would physically be able to drive did come up to. We referred to the Home Alone movies and said that where there is a will, there is a way. But, obviously it did not work well, because they did get into an accident.
I have a hard time at the thought of any parent getting behind a wheel with their children after any kind of drinking. Just do it when you don't have your kids and call a cab.
You are so wise Jennie, and teaching our children a better way is what I want and what they need. You are a great parent and I constantly learn from you. Thank you. I love you beautiful.
Dan,
Thank you my sweetheart :) I love you too.
Post a Comment