Model Behavior

If you are a parent, you are very aware of how your children model your behavior. The good and the bad...they pick up on it all! Last night, my oldest daughter attached a scripture with her tooth to leave for the tooth fairy. Including a scripture with a card, a note, a gift...this is something she has seen me do many times. Today, as I thought about that, a light turned on for me, thank you God.

A couple of weeks ago, I was driving and texting. Now...while this is something I very rarely do, God spoke to me through the eyes of my almost 10 year-old daughter. As I completed my message and hit send, I felt eyes upon me. I glanced back and saw something so vivid and clear...my child learning how to text and drive at the same time. Not only was she learning how to master the task, but I was the one showing her how to do it!

Today, I watched a program full of families left behind to deal with the devastating effects of someone using a phone while driving. From being too engaged in a phone conversation to texting their friends...the results were all the same. Death. Plain and simple. The studies and results were very enlightening, and are something I think everyone should know. Using a phone while driving makes you FOUR times more likely to have an accident while driving...which are the same percentages for driving at the legally drunk limit! Texting while driving makes you EIGHT times more likely to have and accident! EIGHT!!! Essentially, we are constantly among "drunk" drivers because if you look around most everyone is on the phone while operating such potentially deadly machinery. You use a bluetooth you say? It made no difference...it was the state of the mind and it's focus. Although the brain is capable of many things, research shows it simply does not function at the level it should when driving is married with texting or phone conversations.

While my oldest child is still 5 years away from driving, she will be entering that stage of life with texting being such a commonplace activity that an actual phone conversation may in fact be obsolete. In all honesty, based on one of the teenagers on the show, it is already more common for someone to text than to call among that age group. For now, my children are still impressionable and learning basic ways of life. It is my goal to teach them respect of the driver's seat which includes no more texting or talking on the phone while our car is in motion.

If you call me or text me while I am driving, please expect to get my voicemail. No more digging in my purse to find a ringing phone while I'm driving, texting to have someone save me a spot in Power class, or even picking up the phone to call and "say I love you" to someone. It is BECAUSE I love so many I am choosing to forego this behavior, and be a better model!