I feel a little guilty whenever I strap my son into a car seat and I know it's rush hour.
Shane had to sit through a 53 minute drive home from my parents' house today.
My fondest hope is that my son takes a nap whenever traffic is bad. He has a bad habit of struggling to stay awake far longer than he should. Shane enjoys the car ride at first, but quickly starts to lose interest (especially if traffic hits a standstill and there's no construction vehicles to point out).
Here's where I start to feel guilty.
When Shane starts to fuss, I have two options: 1) I try to calm him down, or 2) I ignore him.
If I try to calm Shane down with a quiet voice, look at him, or try to hand him toys or kick my hand he starts to get louder. If I ignore him, he starts to look out the window. If I try to calm him down, he will not sleep. If I ignore him, he falls off to sleep about half the time (depends on how long he napped and the time of day as well). If Shane's really upset I sing. This calms him down as long as my voice holds up, but when I stop....the crying starts. Then I either ignore him and he falls asleep, or we get to our destination.
Sometimes, the best thing I can do is ignore my son when he's fussy in the car. Do you see where the guilt comes from?
I'm seriously thinking about getting a portable TV. It could have the added benefit of being attached to the seatback in front of him, so that Shane can't throw it like his books. That way my son isn't stuck strapped in for an hour long journey in traffic. He shouldn't have to deal with that until he's an adult!
Heck, I don't think adults should have to deal with that, but I'm not in charge. Feel free to vote for me in the upcoming election if you agree.
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