Teaching My Children To Drive

I can proudly say I have taught all three of my children how to drive a car. For months before earning their driver’s licenses, they practiced how to handle a car in different types of weather and traffic conditions. In addition to the basic stress of driving with a novice driver, what I remember most of the experience was how I needed to reflect on my own driving in order to explain the skills to them. Teaching my children how to make something as simple as a right-hand turn required me to analyze how I do each step in this simple act and then teach each of them to my children. I was forced to think about when I use the brake, and at which point in the turn I ease my foot onto the accelerator. Activities that were up to then automatic and second nature to me were no longer taken for granted. I needed to pay attention to my own driving in a way I wasn’t used to doing. This not only allowed me to teach them how to drive, but it made me a stronger driver as well. In reflecting on why I do what I do, my driving became more deliberate.

 

Teaching someone to drive is but one example of when automatic activities need to become intentional. There are countless other times when I have had to consider my actions before coaching someone else. Each of us has a list of activities that are so natural to us that we take them for granted – how we interact with others, how we work, how we shop.  Unfortunately, at this moment in history, we do not have this luxury.

 

COVID 19 is challenging on many levels, not the least of which is how it requires us to evaluate how we operate on a daily level. Even simple activities such as grocery shopping are now altered and can’t be taken for granted. The implications of this pandemic are staggering to think about financially, operationally, educationally, medically, and the list goes on. COVID-19 is forcing us all to assess if we can continue with certain activities and how we go about doing them.  Even when we have the luxury of working or taking classes from home, we still must make changes. No longer can we depend on seeing colleagues and friends at the office. No longer can we assume our former methods of communication will be adequate. Even as we use new forms of technology, we must be intentional about creating community, making sure we are working together. Just as I needed to reflect on my driving skills, we all must do this same sort of reflection in every aspect of our work and personal lives. We must ask ourselves why we do what we do and how we should go about doing it. No more can we rest on the rationale “this is how we’ve always done it.”

 

We may not be able to control all that is happening around us, but we can control the lessons we learn from what is occurring. The way to make sure countless people’s suffering is not in vain is to come through this challenge with new perspectives on life. Instead of allowing the past to sabotage our future by keeping us frozen in bad habits and outdated processes, let us take this time to reflect on what we hope to achieve and the best ways to reach those goals.

 

I hope you stay healthy, safe and sane during these challenging times.