Rear View - all clear!

A group of engineers in South Korea made NPR News this month when they revealed a replacement for the rearview mirrors on the side of their new model. They replaced the mirrors with little cameras...that are always on.

How many times have I looked over my shoulder in my life and hoped I wouldn't see that bad relationship behind me in the mirror - now a camera is going to get that on tape?! The beauty of a rearview mirror is that you know the further and faster you go, the smaller and less significant the things you left behind become.

These little cameras remind me of Facebook and Myspace and how the relationship "oops" factor is constantly being recorded and replayed endlessly. You can't outrun it, you can't turn a corner and get out of the line of sight. It has been recorded, permantently. All the pathetic attempts to get her to like you. All the pitiful begging to keep him from telling your secret. Nope. It's on tape and everyone in town has a copy.

The rearview "camera" might be a giant step forward for the automakers but for teen dating, it means a treadmill that will not get smaller in the rearview mirror and never lets you put anything behind you.

Thoughts?
Lisa J

Parents-Have your teens claim this post as their own!

Parents - have your teens watch this and claim it!
The New Generation from AAA

Percentage rule

A daily chart in the article about car ownership states that “LUXEMBOURG'S roads are jammed with 647 cars for every 1,000 people, the highest ownership rate in the world.” Pretty scary statistic but not as daunting as the number of teens in our local high school.

There are over 2,400 single available teens running loose in our public school which means each teen has exposure to about 1,200 single, available members of the opposite sex six hours a day, five days a week.

Is it any surprise then that the success rate of teen dating is so low? How in the world are they equipped to chose the right one with no guidance, no coaching, no inspection and no facts about this person’s past beyond gossip.

I would love to see a law passed through Congress that every Middle and High School has to post a Warning that “You are now entering the world’s largest, most prolific teen dating service in the world…and your tax dollars are paying the membership fee.”

What defines a dating service is simply trying to find the largest number of available singles and put them all in one place. Bingo!

Thoughts?
Lisa J

Dirty Filter?

Changing the air filter in your car is just good maintenance. All those finely woven, tightly pressed fibers do a great job of keeping out the sludge when they are new but lose effectiveness the dirtier they get.

And you can't just put one in your car and forget about it. You have to look under the hood and check every few thousand miles to see what the condition of that filter is. Exposure is everything.

Let's compare with dating. Maybe the last girlfriend your son had was sweet and nice but a bit boring. Now your teen has moved on to, shall we say, an "all terrain." If that's the case, chances are his filter is getting plugged up and is not very efficient at doing it's job.

Maybe it's time for mom or dad to check under the hood and see what's making the engine run poorly.

Never know, it could be what's not being filtered that's the problem!

Thoughts?
Lisa J

Parked too much?

In a recent car advice column in the Washington Post, an 83 year old woman was asking about a car she had parked in her garage that she wanted to give to her granddaughter for college graduation and was wondering if it was safe.

If we apply that to dating - imagine the marketability of our teens if we kept them "locked up in the garage" and they "didn't have many miles on them." Wow. No dings or dents, knicks or scratches. No accidents, weathered paint or bent rims. Perfect specimens.

What would graduation day look like if we could all present our little babies as perfectly kept "models" that are "as good as new?" What if we could show their mileage and maintenance record and proudly proclaim that they had never been around the block without us.

We may not be able to keep our teens locked up - or would even want to for their sake. But what kind of mileage our kids accumulate by the time they are in their mid-twenties will greatly impact their "safety" rating with the general public. Where they've been matters.

Thoughts?
Lisa J