Parental Guidance

Our typical morning commute consists of little or no talking. Hubby listens to his radio show and I typically am reading, emailing or blogging. In the summer, Carter sits quietly in the backseat playing his Nintendo DS or, on rare occasions, reading.

We pretty much keep to ourselves, just easing into the day.

Thankfully Jim is the most awake (Good thing since he's the driver!) -- usually having a few laugh-out-loud moments over the Bob and Tom Show. Now the humor on that show is quite often adult-oriented. I pretty much tune it out when my mind is otherwise occupied. However, I forget we now have this impressionable young mind in the back seat.

For one fleeting moment I remembered today. Some comedian was about to share some story about Santa so I tell Jim to turn down the volume and motion to the backseat to indicate "we don't want him to learn the truth about Santa from the radio." So we wait it out for what we presume to be long enough for a story, then turn the volume back up. We timed it right and nothing was revealed to unsuspecting ears.

Whew. Dodged that bullet.

Then it hits me -- a thought, not a bullet. Why are we protecting the 11-year-old from a big fairy-tale reveal but not shielding him from the PG-13 comedy?

I guess Mommy needed a wake-up call!

I can't guarantee I'll be any more alert and coherent in the mornings, but at least enough to be mindful of our pipsqueak passenger!