Waze to Go

The other day, we made the three-hour drive to the beach where my parents have a condo. Only it wasn't a three-hour drive.

It was pouring as we hit the road, and as we turned onto the highway, we found ourselves in stopped traffic. For miles.

Navigation wasn't helping us. Just piping out the same old route, completely oblivious to the fact that it was blocked off. It didn't tell us what was ahead, or how far, or what was being done. It didn't give us an alternate way. As far as it was concerned, we could sit there all day. And we would have.

Enter Waze.

This is an app I downloaded accidentally at least a year ago, while looking for the very navigation app that was failing me now.

When I opened it all that time ago, there was nothing special about it that I could see. Perhaps not enough people were using it.

The other day, however, not only did it show me where we were and where we were going, it laid out alternate routes, and most satisfyingly it told me what was going on up there. It showed me where the problem was. Which told me how far we had to detour before we could get back on the highway.

It was amazing.

It single-handedly saved our trip.

And how did it do it?

Other people.

In Waze, people driving on the roads can check in at any point of their journey. Their message and speed is saved for all other Waze users to see for a period of hours. So that I knew that an hour ago, someone came across a massive accident in the left-hand lane in Micanopy. I knew that as of three minutes ago traffic was still at a standstill. Two different posters, updating the local situation. Looking farther down, I saw a car fire on the northbound lanes causing rubberneck slowdowns on our side. I saw that 301 was flowing smoothly. And so excited was I about this useful information, that I posted my own information, telling people to get off the highway and use 301 as an alternate route, where traffic was clear.

And Waze stopped me. It saw that the car was moving and didn't want drivers posting while driving. I had to tell them I was a passenger (which I was). I loved that!

People are using Waze to report speed traps, traffic delays, construction, weather-related traffic news, and even just to check in when everything is fine.

It's amazing. And it's free. And everyone should use it. Seriously.

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Driving Your Kids to School Makes Them Fat

Didn't you know? In other words, columnists continue to piss me off.

Seriously, what is this?

In this column, Andrew Clark asserts that school-drop-off zones are filled with angered, crazed, road-ragey selfish parents attempting to get little Johnny to school on time at the expense and injury of any who dare get in their way. Taunting them for driving to an out-of-reach school system when they could just do the local public and call it a day. He's joking, but not really. Not really at all.

Excuse me?

Because parents of school-aged children don't have it hard enough getting them to school now that bus-budgets are being cut. Now that school systems are so embroiled in No Child Left Behind that parents must scramble to enroll in magnet schools, or move to another district, or take other measures within their financial means to ensure their children get the best education possible. (the author is in Canada and speaking of a Canadian school system but blatantly crosses the line into the U.S. to call us all fat because of school drop-offs, so I figure I can rightly speak of my own country here). I'd venture to say the school system, nay, the governmental rules forcing the school system's hands is broken, not the parent.

He further states that parents are ridiculous for driving their child two-blocks to school. At first nod, you'd think, well, yeah, that's silly. But is it? Now that the rules about walking are being enforced. Rules that are there for good reason. Rules that are there because children have been abducted on their way to school.

He writes as if safety were an afterthought. It's not.

So, walk your child to school, Clark says. Oh, okay. Because working parents definitely have an extra half hour in the morning to devote to this. I'm a stay at home mom. Sometimes, I walk my kids to the bank a half mile down the road. Sometimes I drive. Because even I'm busy, and even I sometimes don't have time to walk. Let's not forget that walking with young kids is like trudging through three feet of mud with your eyes closed. They are that slow.

Get up earlier, he says. I don't have a mature response to this, it makes me too mad, so I'll just fall back on my old favorite: No, you! I mean, it's not just the parents here. We can get up at the crack of dawn. We could stay up from the night before, just to be ready to walk our kids to school. I can guarantee you, the children will find some way to dawdle, and that last backpack will be on at exactly ten minutes before school starts. It's magic, I swear.

I'm not touching the man Clark concentrated on; the one who hit two boys with his car in a fit of road rage. I'm appalled the writer would focus on this as if it's a normal occurrence, going so far as to mock the situation, saying, "in (his) defense, if he hadn't done all that his daughter might have been late for school. I repeat -- late -- for school. Late for school."

Okay, big guy, I highly doubt that incident had anything to do with the typical worry about kids being late for school. But you're hilarious, really.

But this is my favorite part right here: "In the United States, just 13 percent of kids walk or bike. As a result, many North American kids are so obese they look like they could play offensive line in the NFL."

No, totally. Our kids are all fat because they don't walk to school. True facts. What an odd and inflammatory conclusion to make. It couldn't be due to anything else at all. If they only walked to school, they'd all be slim as supermodels.

Okay, he actually won me over a bit with this next bit, not going to lie. I laughed.

"I see the school drop-off as a perversion of the automotive experience. Everyone knows that cars are for sex and racing (at a proper, legally sanctioned track). You don’t put children into the back seat of your car to take them to school. You put yourself into the back seat of your car to create children. We’re sending the wrong message to our young people."

But the joke doesn't excuse the other half-serious statements, half-jokes, and it doesn't excuse the blatant judgment of all parents driving their kids to school. As if they shouldn't. As if there were no good reason for doing so. Like, say, keeping the kids alive.

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Toddler Tricks - 43: Making the best of it

Ways to trick your baby:

Problem: Your potty-trained toddler has to go to the bathroom midway through a rather long drive. You don't want him to hold it and teach him that troublesome trick. You don't want him to go in his pants. You don't want to slap a diaper on him, showing inconsistency. You don't want to stop, but you'll have to.

Solution: There are several solutions to this problem. The first is prevention. Do not leave the house until your child has gone to the bathroom. Even if he says he doesn't have to go.  Wait him out, especially if the drive is just a few hours. In my experience, if my twins have gone potty right before we leave for a faraway destination, they don't have to go for the few hours it takes us to get there. At any rate, at least there is less of a chance for it.


Ways your baby can trick you:

Problem: They really didn't have to go before you left and you ran out of time and had to hit the road. Or they went, but they still have to go again.

Solution: Bring a potty with you. Even potty-trained little ones who go on the big potty understand that a little potty serves the same purpose. If you have a potty with you, they can go anytime, anywhere. You just have to pull over in a safe spot and make them comfortable. If that doesn't work, or if there is no room for a big potty amid your other things, schedule your drive around a potty break. We'll usually make it so that we stop for lunch midway, and the babies use the bathroom at the restaurant after they eat. This is normal to them, and they don't know to make a battle of it.


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