As the parent of a child that drives and another that will be driving soon, texting while driving is a subject that keeps me awake at night. I have talked to my kids about the risks and remind them constantly never to text while driving. However, I am concerned if their friend’s parents are sending the same message to their children who drive. Remember, our children may be riding in a car as a passenger with a friend who is texting while driving.
The question that comes to my mind is how we show our kids, as well as anyone, how dangerous texting while driving really is. I realize you cannot keep focused on driving an automobile while trying to send or read a text message. As parents hopefully we all understand this. But how do we get our children and their friends to understand how distracting this really is?
Instead of lecturing them, let’s just show them how you cannot text and stay focused on something else. Here is an experiment I tried with my children. While at home I had them turn on and play their favorite video game. Once they were playing the game for a few minutes, I handed them their mobile phones and asked them to text me something. Of course, they told me they couldn’t right then since they couldn’t concentrate on the game. Once I received their message, I immediately sent a text message back to them. I kept up with the text messaging, which turned out to be too much for the kids to handle, focusing on both the game and the texting. As a result, they quickly ended their video game. They were annoyed that I made them end their game. However, the point I was able to make with them was a strong one, if they were texting while driving a car they may have ended someone’s life and not just a video game.
The point to make with your children or anyone is that no one can focus on driving an automobile while texting – it can wait! Please help keep our children safe and show them texting while driving is not safe for anyone.
You may have seen our post earlier about AT&T recent educational initiative to help end texting while driving . This is just the beginning and AT&T see this as an on-going initiative to start an open-dialogue about the dangers associated with texting while driving, especially with teens and young adults. As part of the program, AT&T created a Facebook application that let’s fans sign a pledge to support this issue. Visit the Texting & Driving tab within the AT&T Facebook page and take the pledge now and most importantly, share it with your friends and family. If you or your kids aren’t on Facebook, no problem there, AT&T also created a resource center filled with tips, info, and where both you and your kids can test your Texting & Driving IQ together. You can also print out copies of the pledge and sign them with your kids.
