Lecture over...now get out of the car!

Much to their annoyance one of my favorite places to dispense pearls of wisdom to my two unschooled children was in our car while going to and from appointments or activities. They were a captive audience in the front and back seat while riding along with me to the store, piano lessons, the ice rink or wherever else we were traveling to. I always found those jaunts in the car to be the best time to bring up a serious subject because I knew I had their full attention. There was no way for them to scurry off to their rooms like they did at home when mom was about to give a full blown lecture about something.

To this day I'm not sure if everything I talked about was actually absorbed but for the most part our children seem to be responsible adults who are very much aware of what their priorities should be in this life. When I look back on our unschooling days I am amazed at how quickly the years passed. Don't put off those important conversations you plan to have with your children at certain stages in their lives even if it means discussing touchy subjects while riding in the car on the way to do the fun things. Once you arrive at your destination your children, the resilient creatures that they are, will bound from the car unscathed and acting as though they didn't hear a word of what you said. Be assured though they heard every syllable and will contemplate your words later on when they've had time to digest mom's latest rant. 

Lecture over...now get out of the car!