Sh*t I Say: “No Touching Each Other!”

Today is the fourteenth day of the April A to Z Challenge. During this month I will be writing blog posts every day (with breaks on Sundays) about the topic “Sh*t I Say” starting with each consecutive letter of the alphabet. This is one crazy project, y’all.

No touching each other!

The first rule of riding in the car is this:  No touching each other.

That is a rule for my boys.  Stewart and I are indeed allowed to touch each other.

But our boys, our sweet, lovely little boys, are not.  We drive modest cars – a Mistubishi Galant and a Honda Element.  Their seats are not that far away from each other.  They are each within arms’ length of their brother.  As such, each boy is tempted to poke, smack, yank, tickle, and otherwise handle his brother while an adult is driving.

Touching in the car promotes rough-housing and noise, and it is distracting to the driver.  And it always ends badly.  Someone gets hurt, or there is whining, or there is crying, or there is yelling.  Once this tomfoolery actually ended with Brady in the ER because he had nursemaid’s elbow.  (Now we tell Kyle that Brady is allergic to pulling.)

A long time ago I instituted the No Touching Each Other in the car rule.  If someone breaks this rule, God forbid, he will be subject to great and terrible punishment.

So now when the kids start to get rambunctious in the back seat, I actually say “What is the number one rule of riding in the car?” And the kids will answer in unison:

“No touching each other!”

It’s like I have them trained or something.  I may keep it up, because it seems like a good rule for them to stick to later in life when they are dating.