subject: Need For Speed: So Your Little Tike Wants To Drive A Car [print this page] Need For Speed: So Your Little Tike Wants To Drive A Car
My son got a Fisher Price Power Wheels vehicle for his 3rd birthday. (That was quite a few years ago. Ugh!)
He has always had a passionate affection for driving. I would say cars, but I think it is really the driving that lures him. I think we all are lured by driving. Why is that?
Driving a car gives us easy access to what we all long for freedom of movement, a sense of control and speed.
Human beings love to move. Think about it: even though it doesn't feel like it, we are on a planet that is in constant, and fast, motion. Our planet moves around the Sun that is in constant, and fast, motion. Doesn't it make sense that we too naturally want to move, and move fast?
So.... the desire to drive, even at a tender young age of 3 years, is very natural because it is instinctively built into us.
Something in our brains and bodies know that we are movers in a moving universe.
I have several vivid memories of longing to drive from my childhood.
The first is from when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I was standing in my front yard, dreaming about a car that I saw in a magazine.
It wasn't a modern car, or a sports car, it was an old Model A Ford.
Isn't that beautiful? Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm!!
I didn't know why but I knew I wanted to drive that car, even at that young age.
A little later, maybe in 4th or 5th grade, I remember spending lots of time at one of my friend's home just so I could hop into the driver's seat of their Volkswagen Beetle and daydream that I was driving full speed ahead into hair-raising adventures.
Ok, not quite as beautiful, but nonetheless, I liked it and I wanted to drive.
Moving forward a several years later, in my senior year of high school I had just moved to a small town outside of New Orleans. One afternoon riding down River Road, I saw a beautiful Vintage Model A Ford, and....it was for sale.
That yearning I had as a little girl in my front yard, overwhelmed me again. I wanted that car so bad I ached. To me that Vintage Model would give me the freedom to move in a way that was, well,...Classic.
So, the point of this whole story is that we humans, no matter what age, love to move, and driving a car is by far the easiest way to fulfill that urge.
The other point is that if your toddler is wanting a car to drive, know that it is absolutely normal. And know that if you decide to buy your little tike a Power Wheels vehicle for Christmas, you will be giving them something much more than a car. You will be giving them a chance to taste what it feels like to have freedom of movement and a bit of control. Remember... really, deep down, that's what we all want.
