As the season for giving, being thankful, and Black Friday come upon us, here is good advice that you can take to the bank……toss this conversation to another time.
The holiday faux pas—using family time to tell your mother or father that maybe they ought to give up their car keys. How is it that we think getting together for the holidays means having the family conversations that we’ve been meaning to talk about but put off –maybe even at the wonderful dinner table laden with all kinds of good stuff, and all the grandchildren there?
Want to create a real downer? Start talking to a senior about driving and maybe getting rid of their car. Here’s a stocking stuffer—just hide their keys and maybe say later that fate intervened and this is a sign that their driving days should come to an end.
At what age do we say to our parents that their independence is over and wouldn’t it be nice to give their car to a charity or maybe to our son or daughter who is going to college in a few months?
It’s kind of a funny thing—we drive up to a stop light and see everyone doing something with a cell phone—talking, texting, or even watching an old rerun of The Andy Griffith Show.
Has cell phone usage become part of the driving skill set? Are they now going to be testing us at the motor vehicle bureau to see if we can parallel park and text with the same hand. How about using hand signals—are we supposed to keep our hand out of the car window with or without the phone? Or, do we have to learn traffic signs and all the emojis to pass the written test?
What does any of this have to do with the dreaded conversation about seniors continuing to drive their car? Do seniors do a lot of texting?
Are the old folks catching up on the reruns of the Brady Bunch?
Yes, they do read e-mails but generally not while the car is moving forward.
So this is my take: If the senior driver is not backing into mailboxes, not running over bicycles, and can pass the driver’s license renewal test, maybe wait a little before the car keys go “missing”. Taking a car away from a senior is like taking a cell phone away from a teen—isolation.
The difference is that the teen will get over it and get the cell phone back.
Once the keys to the car are taking away, they never go back to the driver, and in most cases, they never get over it. Give it some thought—if you must do it, and no choice exists, OK– If the situation can wait, give it some time.
Take my advice for what it is…It’s Just, AS I SEE IT!
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