So I picked MC up from her FIRST drivers ed class. She moseyed on over to the car and I motioned ‘wanna drive’? Response: Head shake – no. So she gets in. ((keep in mind she’s terrified of killing someone by driving))
“How was drivers ed class?”
“Oh. They showed us a mooovie. A movie about 3 teens getting KILLED while driving! (a couple tears forming) One girl was driving and the other two were fooling around and they got into a crash. Dead. It was horrible.”
“Well, what else did you learn?”
“If you hit a cone thingy in your driver thingy-test…and you don’t even knock it over, just bump it…they take 10 points off!!! BUT…get this….if you hit a pedestrian, they take 26 points off. ”
“26, huh? ”
“Yeah, 26 points. You would think a person would be worth more than 26 points when a cone is worth 10. You automatically fail if you hit a pedestrian. AND…..our teacher said that you should never swerve to avoid a squirrel…you should just run it over! Isn’t that terrible? I’m not running over any squirrels! Poor squirrel”
“How many points do you get if you hit a squirrel?
“I don’t know” (obviously irritated with my question)
“None…. if you don’t swerve!”
I'm Sheila. In addition to raising 1 husband and 3 teens, I've founded 
Great conversation. I would be annoyed too. That is wild that a person is 26 points and a cone is 10. Weird.
Ordinary and Awesome’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
Very funny and I agree, if a cone is 10 a pedestrian should be a lot more.
I can’t wait till we have teenagers. Oh wait, that will be this year, yikes.
Blessings,
Kimberly
Raising Olives’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday – Tom Sawyer
I’m one of six kids and your driving experiences with MC explain why my parents paid a driving instructor to teach each and every one of us how to drive…
Everybody knows the squirrel is worth 50 points.
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Funny story, the squirrel made me laugh pretty hard at work.
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Oh my. 26 points for a person? That sounds very wrong. Love your daughter’s way of thinking.
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That is funny! Squirrels can be evil:-)
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Poor thing! I’m glad she knows the seriousness of driving, though. And I had to LOL about the squirrel! I cried the first time I hit one. I swerved… it swerved… I swerved… but it did no good. *sigh*
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She must really be sensitive. I wouldn’t want to hit a squirrel either. I agree with your daughter 26 points for hitting a pedestrian doesn’t sound right. I wish her the best of luck with her driver’s ed and driving test!
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I remember those movies from drivers ed. Blood on the Pavement or some such gruesomeness. My dad always told me the same thing about squirrels, but I always hit them.
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Ha ha, I meant SWERVE to avoid hitting them!!! LOL!
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Aww, poor little squirrel!
Does he know yall were talking about him?
DaisyDeadhead’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday – St George and the Dragon
I’m with your daughter – a pigeon once flew into my windshield and I’ll always remember the way it swerved in a dead drop to the ground as I continued on the road. I burst into instant tears. What can one do when your heart feels for living things?
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How funny, I hate to laugh but that is pretty funny. Though I hate to hear they showed the death movie and your daughter is already worried enough, bless her heart.
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Hahaha! OMG that is too funny!!!
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Hi! Oh your poor daughter. Hope she get over her fear. Party hopping and participating too so stop in for a visit.
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LOL that was funny! But your right a pedestrian should be a lot more points.
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Hi Sheila….I’m ba-ack
This post make me laugh so hard…even when they get older, kids are funny
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Oh no! Poor squirrels! I went through driver’s ed too but I don’t remember hearing that I should just run over the squirrels. Well, I was kind of busy flirting with the boy at the desk next to me so I guess that’s my bad!
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LOL! I had a driving instructor that said the same thing about squirrels and thinking the same thing as your daughter. I still remember hearing him say that today 20+ years later. Why do the squirrels wait until the last possible moment to move?!?!
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I’m with your daughter. I can’t swerve much while driving this big truck, but I always do the most that I can to try to save a life. I can’t always save them, but I try to focus on the ones I do. Once, a mama duck with four or five babies trailing behind her were crossing the interstate when I came up on them. Hit the brakes hard and made it into the hammer lane just in the nick of time to avoid them. My heart was pounding so hard. If I had hit them … well, would have been some crying on the highway that day.
About the cone/pedestrian thing. Why do they assign any points at all to hitting a pedestrian? Automatic failure seems good enough. Silly crap.
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sheila Reply:
March 25th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Yeah, I couldn’t hit a squirrel either. I hit a bunny once. Parked and cried. I just kept saying, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Then I looked in my rearview mirror and that little bunny flopped over and hopped off. People on the sidewalk thought I was insane. I’d SO swerve. I’d take the points. lol.
Hedon, so glad you avoided the mom and baby ducks. That must of been something to see, considering what you are driving!
Oh my I can relate! My twins are 15 and in FL they got their permits last August. They’ve been driving quite a bit since then and they are doing fine, but we get the occasional odd comment or two. Both are terrified of hitting a squirrel, good lord, I’m more worried about humans and other moving vehicles!
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Man. I agree. A human should totally be worth more than 26 points. Especially if you just automatically fail. Why give points?
And the squirrel! Please do not let your daughter read my squirrel/highway/splat post. I had to make the “swerve” or “not swerve” decision at 60mph.
It wasn’t pretty.
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I think you should get BONUS points if you hit a squirrel!
About a year after I got my licesnse I hit a squirrel on my way home from work. I was devastated but my dad made me scrape it off the road. Eeewww!
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I will give her 100 points if she can get our squirrel population down here – those suckers are mean. They throw acorns at us when we go for walks!
Kelly cried a couple weeks ago ’cause she fears when she starts driving by herself she’ll get lost and won’t be able to find her way home. Poor baby.
What about cats and dogs? Did they mention those and swerving? Moose? Cows? Hummers?
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I am with her… I swerve for squirrels and other critters. Enjoy the driving times with a teen!!! LOL
Hilarius. Of course I can sympathize with her since I too was terrified of driving. When I took my drivers test the examination person (what are they called?) said that he would always remember me because I asked him what I was supposed to do if I *did* hit something large. Should I keep going or let him drive back? Anyway, I got my license without event, and I am sure she will too. But what memories!
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