We live just a few blocks away from my daughter’s elementary school, so (despite her sometimes very loud objections) we walk to class every day. I feel fortunate that we can do that, and realize not every one can. But nearly every day, I witness things that make me cringe: drivers speeding through the neighborhood, talking on cell phones, ignoring pedestrians. And what really gets me is, most of these careless drivers are parents with children in the back seat.

Imagine this: You have a small child, and you naturally want that child to be a good reader. To accomplish this goal, you keep all books and reading materials away from the child until he turns 4 1/2 and you deem him ready. Make sense? Of course not! You start early, let the child develop an interest in books, then slowly introduce new concepts and let your child soak it all in. I firmly believe that the same is true of driving. Good driving behavior is learned early and must be reinforced often! If you weave in and out of traffic, run red lights, speed, yell at fellow drivers and are a general hazard on the road, you can’t expect your child to ignore your behavior until he’s 16 and you’re ready to set a good example.

Adults, including mothers, seem to be forgetting their place as role models when it comes to driving. A scary statistic was recently released: the number of women arrested for drunk driving has increased almost 30% in the past 10 years. (Interestingly, the number of men arrested for the same crime decreased by 7.5% over the same period.) This was sadly illustrated in July of this year when Diane Schuler of New York drove 2 miles on the wrong side of the road on Taconic State Parkway, then crashed her minivan killing her 2 year old daughter, three nieces and three men in the other vehicle. Her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, and she had marijuana in her bloodstream. (To be fair, Schuler’s husband is denying that alcohol was involved and thinks she suffered a stroke of some kind. Tests are still being done.) It makes me wonder how many children are watching their parents drink and drive (without a tragic crash) and are picking up on the message that it’s okay.

Even if we aren’t drunk drivers, as parents we need to realize that our children are not oblivious to our behavior. If we are cautious, focused people who take driving seriously, they will learn that driving is a BIG DEAL.- important enough to do all by itself without phones and text messages, mascara wands and newspapers (we’ve all seen it!). If, however, we believe that our children will do as we say, not as we do, then we are contributing to the next generation of careless, reckless drivers. Let’s all give that some thought the next time we get behind the wheel with our little ones.