Boys, Girls, and Carpools

Written by Beth Moore

This article is courtesy of ParentLife magazine

Carpool. That perilous rite of passage in modern motherhood that has not reached its full potential until you would gladly drive your car into the nearest pool – while in it. Trust me. I put my time into carpooling. Between three children, not only did I often work double time on overlapping shifts, I drove to three different schools.

My schedule was so bad, I am willing to take on all those who think they had a worse time of it. One of my children’s schools was 17 miles from home, smack in the middle of Houston’s rush hour traffic. Here is where I win the prize because this was my “boy” carpool. The most disturbing part of it all was that I loved it.

Do not get me wrong. Carpooling was still a pain. Sometimes you wait on others and other times they wait on you. The boys quickly learned how to read the speed limit sign and match it with the speedometer. “Mrs. Moore, are you speeding?” Then there was all the noise, the fighting, and the not getting along. Even the “friendly play” entailed something obnoxious like wrestling or sticking stuff in their noses. And nobody likes the same music at the same volume.

Some of my favorite time with the boy carpool was on the first day of school. It was the only time all year that the little boys still had their shirts tucked in when they got into the car. Their hair was always slicked back and still wet, giving them that “miniature man” look. I was not fooled, though. It is difficult to find a manly looking lunch box. And they would have died if they had known their mother’s goodbye kiss was still lingering in “passion fruit pink” right on their foreheads.

And the little girls? They always found a way to put the “A” in accessories. Each had her own theme. Barrettes matched the lunch box that matched the backpack that matched the socks. The dress, selected weeks earlier, was the main attraction around which the whole look revolved. Their shoes were the one place the ensemble could go awry. No matter how prissy the outfit, the girls preferred their new athletic shoes to the dress shoes – much to Mom’s dismay.

Little boys and girls are as different as night and day – except that neither were very anxious to leave their mothers on the first day of school. I could detect the apprehension on their faces and the grip on their mommies' necks.

In Deuteronomy 6:7, God instructs us to talk about His precepts to our children “when you walk along the road.” These days, we do not do a lot of walking, but we do a lot of driving. What prime opportunities to engage a young life in Jesus’ name. To me, that does not include beating them over the head with my Bible. Carpool is best driven with two hands on the wheel, a heart full of love, a soul full of joy, and a head full of discernment.

What is the lesson to be learned from my carpooling experiences? One of them reminds me of my mother’s belief that it was a sad woman indeed that did not have a young child somewhere in her life. If not her own, then one in Sunday School or in the neighborhood. Mom would say that anywhere you found a child, you would find a lot of life. Because to her, you would be a miserable soul if you lost touch with children. I am deeply indebted to my mother for teaching me that.

Adapted from Feathers from My Nest (©2001 Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee), pp. 15-23. Used by permission.

Beth Moore is a wife, mother, writer, and teacher of best-selling Bible studies.