Student Driver

Lately every time we are in the car I get peppered with questions about driving, nonstop, from a certain newly-turned-four-year-old in the back seat. It started a few weeks ago when he asked when he would be old enough to drive. I told him he could start learning to drive when he is sixteen. Either Ben thinks he is going to be sixteen in very short order, or he is really trying to get a leg up on the studying: "How do you make the car go faster?" "How do you make the car go slower?" "What happens if you turn the wheel too fast?" "What does that P stand for?" "How much gas do we have? Is it pointing to the E? What happens if we run out of gas?" "How do you make the car go backwards?" "What road are we on?" "How fast are we going?" "What's the speed limit?" "Why are you slowing down? Because we're going up a hill?" And on, and on, and on. These examples I provided are not condensed from the past week of driving, they are from this morning's 7 minute drive to camp. And I left some out for brevity's sake. I must admit, I am pretty impressed with his powers of observation. He must be doing nothing but staring at the dashboard whenever we're in the car, watching all the controls and the display.

Unfortunately for me, he's starting to ask some tougher questions, like about exhaust and what it is and where it comes from and why some cars have more than others. (I launched into an explanation about newer cars, emission standards, smog, and the ozone layer). After that one, I almost wished he'd go back to asking about electricity -- a couple months back every time we got into the car he'd say "Let's talk about the power lines..." and then I'd have to give an explanation of electricity and how it works, which I am sure I mangled badly. It's becoming clear to me that I'm going to be the one who needs to study, if Ben's questions continue.