I don't know why, but I have had the unfortunate opportunity to witness several acts of road rage recently, with my children in the back seat. In one instance, the young driver in the car next to us exited his vehicle at a stop light and screamed at the elderly driver in front of him, "I'm going to beat you old man!"
I could not believe that someone could get so worked up about being caught behind someone doing the speed limit. Yet, here I was, getting equally worked up about this sickening public display. I rolled down my window and asked the man to please get back in his car. There were children watching him.
Raising kids to be peaceful is a challenge in its own right. They are witnessing everyday examples of adults and leaders resolving conflicts using less than peaceful measures. In that moment, I could have joined the madness and started to rant and rave. What good would have come from that? What good could possibly come from this man threatening another?
When you are stuck in seemingly endless traffic, or that person forgot to use their directional to switch into your lane, or you are stuck behind the guy driving 5 miles below the speed limit, I urge you to take a a deep breath. The traffic will end, you will get where you need to be, and the other drivers around you are most likely not conspiring to cut you off or drive you crazy. The children are watching your responses. Your children, and the children in the cars driving by you or stopped at a red light. They are watching your very move and learning how to be adults. Let's help them to learn to be the peaceful variety.
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Well, this is a good lesson for all of us. At 3 my son told his grandmother he knew what a stupid idiot was - the person driving in front of Mom. So even though I consider myself a peaceful parent, even those under the breath comments are having their impact. Thanks for extrapolating - none of us would consider yelling or threatening someone, but we are often guilty of intolerance.
ReplyDeleteWe often have no control over what other people do, however, these are teaching moments. Giving this man any attention, positive or negative, feeds his misdirected ego. A deep breath goes a long way in connecting with the neutral mind, that place where we see both sides and use our free will to move forward with right action.
ReplyDeleteSo true..I was getting crazy about someone tailgating me(which is admittedly dangerous, but still, I was swearing), and my five year old said 'That guy's an a**hole'. Children see, children do. Good reminder.
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