Carpool

As a suburban mom, I spend a large portion of my time chauffeuring my children from Point A to Point B. Being that I am seated in my faithful minivan for most of my waking hours , I have come to view my car as a second home, and have outfitted it as such. I have a glove compartment full of snacks, a trunk filled with small water bottles, and caddies of pens, papers, notebooks, tissues, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, and a collection of books and toys. There is even a garbage bag of old clothes which I had originally planned to give away, but then realized they were better suited to be housed permanently in my cavernous trunk for emergency situations.

Since I am resigned to the fact that I will be driving carpools for many years to come, I have begun to discover some of the positives of working as an unpaid taxi driver. Take yesterday, for example. Wednesday is one of my rare days off, the only day of the week that I don’t actually have to drive any kids anywhere. At 4 o’clock my son burst into the house, slammed the door, and flung his coat and knapsack across the room.

“Hi, how was your day?” I asked brightly.

His response was an unintelligible grunt that vaguely sounded like “Okay”, leaving me to spend the remainder of the evening anxiously wondering what had happened in school that day.

The next day was my turn to pick up the aforementioned son along with three other boys. They pushed their way into the car, in a blur of baseball bats, mitts, hockey sticks and balls of all sizes and settled into the back.

My ears perked up as their conversation began.

Boy #1 “I heard you got sent to the principal’s office today. Cool!”

My son, “Yeah, whatever.”

Boy #2, “Is it true you threw a chair at Joseph?”

My son, “Well he hit me with a hockey stick first, so he started.”

As the banter continued the boys were completely oblivious to the fact that their invisible chauffer could actually hear them waaaay up in the front. As I mentally prepared myself for a phone call from the principal, I smiled inwardly realizing that I had just discovered a huge advantage to driving carpool!

This scenario often repeats itself with my daughter as well, and I’ve come to appreciate the fact that picking up the kids is a window into their lives and their interactions with their peers. As a silent observer, I’ve gleaned bits and pieces of significant information which I would otherwise have no way of knowing. My fellow carpoolers and I have even made a pact to reveal to each other any essential news that is overheard in our respective minivans.

On days when my offspring have extracurricular activities, I sometimes drive a total of SEVEN carpools. It’s great because I often get to snatch a 10 minute snooze while I’m waiting outside the school. Sometimes it’s not even worth the effort to get everyone out of the car and into the house, so on those chaotic days, I’ve taken to serving dinner in my minivan. The kids love it! I’ve made some rough calculations and it appears that I’ll be carpooling until at least 2022. So for now, I’ll just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!