Sacrifices

Sacrifices are part of parenting. And as a long-time parent, I've made a fair number of them. Sitting up with a sick child. Coaching soccer games. Going to plays and recitals. That sort of thing.

You don't have to like it. You just have to do it, and not let your real opinion about the activity show. It's part of being a good parent.

My daughter will be driving in a few years, and I know that will bring its own sacrifices. Insurance costs. Fuel costs. Time spent worrying about her safety.

There's not much that I can do about the first two, but there is something I can do about the last one. A way to make a pre-payment on the sacrifice, as it were. Like going to the dentist - you don't want to, but you know that you should.

So yesterday, I rearranged my schedule so I could have the afternoon free, picked up my daughter, and took her Karting.

There's a fair amount of research that shows that inexperience is one of the leading causes of car accidents among teenagers. They just aren't very good drivers, especially if they get into situations where they need to make quick decisions.

I don't want that to happen to my daughter.

So if I have to repeatedly strap myself into a low-slung high-performance electric kart and fly around a small indoor track at speeds of up to 30MPH, or even try to learn how to drift smoothly through the corners without spinning out, if that's what it takes for my daughter, I'll do it. Without complaint. Because that's the kind of father that I am.

I'm just hoping I don't have to follow that up by doing this.