TICKET: Motherly advice

If I were the mother of the mom whose son was ticketed for having his license plate covered by snow, here is my advice to her.

You missed a great opportunity to teach your son to take responsibility in order to operate a vehicle on public roads. You have to have a copy of your driver license, a copy of the car insurance in your vehicle as well as the car registration in the car with you; your safety equipment, like turning signals and brake lights visible to other vehicles for response and safety. The officer was just doing his job. There were two violations here and you could have given your son some parental advice that would have created a much better outcome in guiding your son’s character. That is the responsibility of the parent to equip children to adjust to the world in which they live. I am sure that this is also taught in Drivers Education at our public schools. Instead you had a temper problem against the officer and public response you didn’t like.

Your advice to your son should have gone something like this. “I know that you were the recipient of a ticket and you don’t like it. I don’t like it any more than you do, but it was your fault. You are responsible for not having the insurance proof and had to call me. Also you were responsible for not cleaning the license plate so it was visible. You cannot drive a car on public road without a valid license plate; that is breaking the state law. The officer was kind enough to overlook the lack of proof of insurance. You should have shown some appreciation, instead you showed anger, not respect for the law and order of the land.”

You can’t undo what you did, but maybe you can change some of it to be the kind of parent you should strive to be. Isn’t that what we all want? To raise our children in the way they should go.

DELLA KENNEY

Grandma to 49 children

Post Falls