Wednesday, June 03, 2009

I'm such a fool

I just ordered this for Alastair:



Many of you have heard me rant on how ill-prepared our children are when they take the wheel of a car in the big mean world. I think our nanny-state child-safety laws prevent us from experiencing the world from a training perspective, and expect us to simply understand the physics of driving when we climb behind the wheel at 15 3/4 years old. That's retarded. I grew up in the front seat, learned how the car behaved in traffic, with the road, and what to expect when I shifted 3 feet over to the left.

Today's kids are kept in the back seat until they're 10 years old (and sometimes much older). So now Alastair will have a head-start. Even if he doesn't take to racing, performance driving, or anything else, he'll at least know what happens when he pushes the throttle & brake, how much steering input to provide for a tight turn vs. a broad sweeper, and some of the responsibility that comes with driving.

Of course I hope he falls absolutely in love with it and wants to be a champion racer. Now I just need to get him a helmet, fire-suit, gloves, boots, and baby-HANS device.

7 comments:

Nicole said...

That is awesome!!

Maria said...

I am 33, have a grown up Volvo, and I still want this zippy red car! Go Alistair!

Unknown said...

I wonder what my sister would do to me if I bought that for my nephew.

You are an awesome dad!!!

Daniel said...

I just realized that the steering wheel in the picture is not even aligned properly. Sound familiar?

ahamos said...

I don't know, should it?

Daniel said...

well, the actual car's wheel is out of alignment, too.

ahamos said...

Ah. So it is.