![\"See](\"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/halloween.jpg\")
<\/a>See what I mean!<\/p><\/div>\n
Now the real test is approaching. I\u2019ve bought Mitzi, a Mitsubishi 5 speed stick shift on the floor, for Jack to learn to drive. Jack\u2019s agreed to pay me 50% of the purchase price to have it be his own car when he\u2019s 16. (He works as a \u201cbagger\u201d at the local grocery store.) Ellen\u2019s agreed to let Jack get his license on his 16th<\/sup> birthday so long as he keeps up a B average in school. I conceded on no motorcycles until he\u2019s an experienced driver (but read the story \u201cHow I Came to Be a Lawyer.\u201d) Now the test I\u2019m talking about: Will Jack be a safe driver and skillful driver or a risky driver and a bad driver?<\/p>\n For me, it\u2019s just like Nick\u2019s climbing roofs. If you let the kids find their own limits, then they\u2019ll create their own safety zone \u2013 one they really know. But, if you tell them No, you can\u2019t climb trees, then these are the kids who later fall and break their leg. For Ellen, it\u2019s an innate mother-thing to be protective, and she\u2019s right about that. So far we\u2019ve traversed without calamity and with our marriage intact, even though El once went so far as to tell me that the neighbor lady had threatened to call child protection if she ever saw Nick on the garage roof again; to which I replied \u201cLet her.\u201d<\/p>\n Tomorrow: The Many Splendors<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m telling this story because there needs to be give and take in every marriage \u2013 and it only gets harder once you have kids. We had a furious fight over whether Jack was old enough \/ responsible enough to … Continue reading