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Health & Fitness

Baby You Can Drive My Car

When I worked at Children's Hospital, I would occasionally work with some of the neurosurgeons there.  Maybe it was because they worked at Children's or maybe I just managed to work with the funny ones; either way, they would make jokes like "It's not like it's brain surgery!  Oh wait, it IS brain surgery!"

They did not, by the way, do this in front of parents or patients.

Anyhoo, driving your child to school is not brain surgery.  Driving safely and being courteous to other people who are doing the same is not hard.  Using a little extra caution when you are driving near a school in the morning shouldn't take too much time out of your busy day.

And yet...

Let me say that my kids walk to school.  Happily for them, there are no major streets to cross.  For everyone else, though, including parents with younger children, dog walkers, cyclists, joggers, and other neighbors, the area around the Fitzgerald (and probably other schools that are in residential neighborhoods) is a horror show.  People are parked facing the wrong way on the street.  Others are making u-turns in the middle of traffic and school buses and pedestrians.  Some pull up to the curb to drop their students and THEN do things like put folders into backpacks or put shoes on or what-have-you, which leaves a dangerous line of cars out into the street.

The thing about this is that it is so very simple to fix.  Use common sense.  Be courteous.  Is it really going to make you late if you drive around the block instead of making a u-turn?  What about walking that extra block with your student to make sure that everyone is safe -- including you!

I know that you're late for work.  I know that the kids wouldn't get out of bed and needed extra toast and lost their folders/shoes/backpacks.  I know that you got into the car and then found out that no one had brushed.  I know that the dog knocked over the cereal bowl and that you have to go BACK HOME to clean that up before you go to work.  I know that mornings are manic.  

But they're not brain surgery.

Walking Wednesday is coming up on October 2nd as part of International Walk to School Day.  Maybe you can use the time until then to practice.

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