The different perspectives of Dad and Mom keep cropping up, this time in talking about the family transportation.
The PracticalMom asked me when I anticipated buying another car and I responded that it would probably occur in 2010. With the eldest approaching driving age, my thought process was that I’d purchase a good used vehicle for my wife, take her still-good car and let the teen use my mini-van. A win-win since my wife would get a decent vehicle, I’d get her Toyota for hauling kids and my well-used Chevy would become the fall-back.
I was surprised that she disagreed with me. Why? Why would the teen get the newer Toyota while I’m left with the older Chevy mini-van? Where’s the justice in this picture? Her response was that the Toyota has air-bags along the sides as well as in the front seats, a much safer arrangement for the new driver.
I see her point. Yet there is such a thing as the pecking order and the belief that children should wait their turn. What does it teach them that they automatically get to drive the newer, better vehicle while the parent drives the older one? Having learned on a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle, I was grateful that I at least had a car to get around in and the nicer cars were left to the parents. You want a different car, said my father, then get a job and buy one yourself. I frankly believe that my teen would be perfectly happy driving the Chevy and it is a solid vehicle with dual front airbags. So the problem is mine to own.
Do I concern myself with feeding a teen’s sense of entitlement or my own? I’m curious…