As we have been on the road a couple times this summer, the minivan has been relatively quiet. Road trips are our opportunity to phone it in on parenting duty and let the kids veg out and watch their tablets. On this last road trip, I started to think that maybe the tablets should take a break, the books should come out and this passenger time should be spent learning! Start consuming some literature, and stop consuming the latest Disney Plus hit…
…Then I started to think back about my time pent up, sitting three across in the back of the family’s white Chrysler station wagon. At least I wasn’t jammed in the middle like my sister, yet still no tablets, no tv screens. Just a tiny, hand-held digital karate game, a book and a keen eye out the window to try to win the license plate game. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I don’t know if I cracked that book once. Who could read with a rousing round of “99 Bottles” chorusing through the car. Definitely less entertainment, definitely no learning.
My point is this idle time should be spent learning, yet at least in our car, it isn’t. It can be easy to make these guesses as to what will or should get done when you have the time to do it. I often read about how much value will be “unlocked” with driverless cars. As the car drives you to work, you can get your grocery list done, start work earlier, and oh will productivity soar to new heights! Or maybe it won’t. Maybe the more clever car makers will pack that sucker full of things to distract and entertain us and at the end of the day, no work, let alone learning, will be accomplished.
This upcoming weekend, please have a nice Labor Day. If you’re traveling and you see more than 10 different state license plates, you’re a rockstar, but we also need to buy you a tablet. 🙂
Happy Friday! Happy Labor Day!